ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


Ulster  Folklore 


BY 

ELIZABETH  ANDREWS,  F.R.A.I. 


WITH  FOURTEEN  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  DUTTON  &  CO. 
68i  FIFTH  AVENUE 


INTRODUCTION 


IN  1894  I  was  at  the  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  at  Oxford,  and  had  the  good 
fortune  to  hear  Professor  JuHus  Kollmann  give  his 
paper  on  "  Pygmies  in  Europe,"  in  which  he 
described  the  skeletons  which  had  then  recently 
been  discovered  near  Schaffhausen.  As  I  hstened 
to  his  account  of  these  small  people,  whose  average 
height  was  about  four  and  a  half  feet,  I  recalled  the 
description  of  Irish  fairies  given  to  me  by  an  old 
woman  from  Galway,  and  it  appeared  to  me  that 
our  traditional  "  wee-folk  "  were  about  the  size  of 
these  Swiss  dwarfs.  I  determined  to  collect  what 
information  I  could,  and  the  result  is  given  in  the 
following  pages.  I  found  that  the  fairies  are, 
indeed,  regarded  as  small ;  but  their  height  may  be 
that  of  a  well-grown  boy  or  girl,  or  they  may  not 
be  larger  than  a  child  beginning  to  walk.  I  once 
asked  a  woman  if  they  were  as  small  as  cocks  and 
hens,  but  she  laughed  at  the  suggestion. 

I  had  collected  a  number  of  stories,  and  had 
become  convinced  that  in  these  tales  we  had  a 
reminiscence  of  a  dwarf  race,  when  I  read  some  of 
Mr.  David  MacRitchie's  works,  and  was  gratified 
to  find  that  the  traditions  I  had  gathered  were  in 

V 


vi 


INTRODUCTION 


accordance  with  the  conclusions  he  had  drawn 
from  his  investigations  in  Scotland.  A  little  later 
I  made  his  acquaintance,  and  owe  him  many  thanks 
for  his  great  kindness  and  the  encouragement  he 
has  given  me  in  my  work. 

As  will  be  seen  in  the  following  pages,  tradition 
records  several  small  races  in  Ulster :  the  Grogachs, 
who  are  closely  allied  to  the  fairies,  and  also  to  the 
Scotch  and  English  Brownies;  the  short  Danes, 
/  ^  whom  I  am  inclined  to  identify  with  the  Tuatha 
'(\yfnO    <^""de  Danann;  the  Pechts,  or  Picts;  and  alsoThe 
^     ptST  small  Finns.    My  belief  is  that  all  these,  including 
Ld^^t  ci^         fairies,  represent  primitive  races  of  mankind, 
and  that  in  the  stories  of  women,  children,  and 
men  being  carried  off  by  the  fairies,  we  have  a 
record  of  warfare,  when  stealthy  raids  were  made 
^^^d^M/x^^   and  captives  brought  to  the  dark  soiiterrain. 
^1^%/%^^^  These  souterrains,  or,  as  the  country  people  call 
^f^^f^^^them,     coves,''  are  very  numerous.    They  are 
^  ^^^^^'^^♦^tt^^ground   structures,  built  of  rough  stones 
without  mortar,  and  roofed  with  large  flat  slabs. 
Plate   II.  shows  a  fine  one   at   Ardtole,  near 
Ardglass,  Co.  Down.    The  total  length  of  this 
sou  terrain  is  about  one  hundred  and  eight  feet,  its 
width  three  feet,  and  its  height  five  feet  three 
inches.*    The  entrance  to  another  souterrain  is 
shown  in  the  Sweathouse  at  Magheraf  (Plate  III.).yb. 

*  See  *' Ardtole  Souterrain,  Co.  Down/'  by  F.  J.  Bigger 
and  W.  J.  Fennell  in  Ulster  Journal  of  Archcsology,  1898-99, 
pp.  146,  147. 

t  I  am  much  indebted  to  Mr.  S.  D.  Lytle  of  that  town  for 
kind  permission  to  reproduce  this  view. 


INTRODUCTION 


vii 


As  a  rule,  although  the  fairies  are  regarded  as 
"  fallen  angels,"  they  are  said  to  be  kind  to  the 
poor,  and  to  possess  many  good  qualities.  "  It 
was  better  for  the  land  before  they  went  away  "  is 
an  expression  I  have  heard  more  than  once.  The 
belief  in  the  fairy  changeling  has,  however,  led  to 
many  acts  of  cruelty.  We  know  of  the  terrible 
cases  which  occurred  in  the  South  of  Ireland  some 
years  ago,  and  I  met  with  the  same  superstition 
m  the  North.  I  was  told  a  man  beUeved  his  sick 
wife  was  not  herself,  but  a  fairy  who  had  been  sub- 
stituted for  her.  Fortunately  the  poor  woman  was 
in  hospital,  so  no  harm  could  come  to  her. 

Much  of  primitive  belief  has  gathered  round  the  — 
fairy — we  have  the  fairy  well  and  the  fairy  thorn. 
It  is  said  that  fairies  can  make  themselves  so  small 
that  they  can  creep  through  keyholes,  and  they  are 
generally  invisible  to  ordinary  mortals.  They  can 
shoot  their  arrows  at  cattle  and  human  beings,  and 
by  their  magic  powers  bring  disease  on  both. 
They  seldom,  however,  partake  of  the  nature  of 
ghosts,  and  I  do  not  think  belief  in  fairies  is  con- 
nected with  ancestral  worship. 

Sometimes  I  have  been  asked  if  the  people  did 
not  invent  these  stories  to  please  me.  The  best 
answer  to  this  question  is  to  be  found  in  the  diverse 
localities  from  which  the  same  tale  comes.  I  have 
heard  of  the  making  of  heather  ale  by  the  Danes, 
and  the  tragic  fate  of  the  father  and  son,  the  last 
of  this  race,  in  Down,  Antrim,  Londonderry^  and 
Kerry.    The  same  story  is  told  in  many  parts  of 


viii 


INTRODUCTION 


Scotland,  although  there  it  is  the  Picts  who  make 
the  heather  ale.  I  have  been  told  of  the  woman 
attending  the  fairy-man's  wife,  acquiring  the  power 
of  seeing  the  fairies,  and  subsequently  having  her 
eye  put  out,  in  Donegal  and  Derry,  and  variants  of 
the  story  come  to  us  from  Wales  and  the  Holy 
Land. 

I  am  aware  that  I  labour  under  a  disadvantage 
in  not  being  an  Irish  scholar,  but  most  of  those  in 
Down,  Antrim,  and  Derry  from  whom  I  heard  the 
tales  spoke  only  English,  and  in  Donegal  the 
peasants  who  related  the  stories  knew  both  lan- 
guages well,  and  I  believe  gave  me  a  faithful  version 
of  their  Irish  tales. 

Some  of  these  essays  appeared  in  the  Antiquary ^ 
others  were  read  to  the  Archaeological  Section  of 
the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  but  are  now 
published  for  the  first  time  in  extenso.  All  have 
been  revised,  and  additional  notes  introduced. 
To  these  chapters  on  folklore  I  have  added  an 
article  on  the  Rev.  William  Hamilton,  who,  in  his 
"  Letters  on  the  North-East  Coast  of  Antrim," 
written  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
gives  an  account  of  the  geology,  antiquities,  and 
customs  of  the  country. 

The  plan  of  the  souterrain  at  Ballymagreehan  -/^i 
Fort,  Co.  Down,  was  kindly  drawn  for  me  by  Mr. 
Arthur  Birch.  I  am  much  indebted  to  the  Council 
of  the  Royal  Anthropological  Institute  for  their 
kindness  in  allowing  me  to  reproduce  the  plan  of 
the  souterrain  at  Knockdhu  from  Mrs.  Hobson's 


INTRODUCTION 


ix 


paper,  "  Some  Ulster  Souterrains,"  published  in 
the  Journal  oi  the  Institute,  vol.  xxxix.,  January  to 
June,  1909.  My  best  thanks  are  also  due  to  Mrs. 
Hobson  for  allowing  me  to  make  use  of  her  photo- 
graph of  the  entrance  to  this  sou  terrain.  The 
other  illustrations  are  from  photographs  by  Mr. 
Robert  Welch,  M.R.I. A.,  who  has  done  so  much  to 
make  the  scenery,  geology,  and  antiquities  of  the 
North  of  Ireland  better  known  to  the  English 
public. 

Belfast, 

August,  1913. 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION     ......  v 

FAIRIES  AND  THEIR  DWELLING-PLACES    -            -  I 

A  DAY  AT  MAGHERA,  CO.  LONDONDERRY             -             *  M 

ULSTER  FAIRIES,  DANES,  AND  PECHTS  -  -  *  24 
FOLKLORE  CONNECTED  WITH  ULSTER  RATHS  AND  SOU- 


TERRAINS     -             -             -             -             -  -  36 

TRADITIONS    OF    DWARF    RACES    IN  IRELAND    AND  IN 

SWITZERLAND            -             -  -  47 

FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL          -             -             -  -  64 

GIANTS  AND  DWARFS       -             -             -             -  -  84 

THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HAMILTON,  D  D.         -             -  -  I05 


xi 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PLATES 

I.   HARVEST  KNOT  -  -  -  Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

II.  SOUTERRAIN  AT  ARDTOLE,  ARDGLASS,  CO.  DOWN         -  I 

III.  ENTRANCE  TO  SWEATHOUSE,  MAGHERA  -  -  14 

IV.  RUSH  AND  STRAW  CROSSES  -  -  -  "17 
V.  HARVEST  KNOTS         -             -             -             -  "  IQ 

VI.  "CHURN  "      -  -  -  -  -  -  20 

VII.  ENTRANCE  TO  SOUTERRAIN  AT  KNOCKDHU  -  -  30 

VIII.  THE  OLD  FORT,  ANTRIM        -  -  -  -36 

IX.  GREY  man's  path,   FAIRHEAD  -  -  49 

X.  TORMORE,  TORY  ISLAND        -  -  -  '73 

XI.  VALLEY    NEAR     ARMOY,    WHENCE,     ACCORDING  TO 

LEGEND,  EARTH  WAS  TAKEN  TO  FORM  RATHLIN  90 
XII.  FLINT  SPEARHEAD  AND  BASALT  AXES  FOUND  UNDER 

FORT  IN  LENAGH  TOWNLAND       -  -  "97 

PLANS 

*  PAGE 

SOUTERRAIN  AT  BALLVMAGREEHAN  -  -  -  6 

SOUTERRAIN  AT  KNOCKDHU  -  -  "30 


xiii 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 

Fairies  and  their  Dwelling-places* 

IN  the  following  notes  I  have  recorded  a  few 
traditions  gathered  from  the  peasantry  in  Co. 
Down  and  other  parts  of  Ireland  regarding  the 
fairies.  The  belief  is  general  that  these  little 
people  were  at  one  time  very  numerous  through- 
out the  country,  but  have  now  disappeared  from 
many  of  their  former  haunts.  At  Bally nahinch  I 
was  told  they  had  been  blown  away  fifty  years  ago 
by  a  great  storm,  and  the  caretaker  of  the  old 
church  and  graveyard  of  Killevy  said  they  had 
gone  to  Scotland.  They  are,  however,  supposed 
still  to  inhabit  the  more  remote  parts  of  the 
country,  and  the  old  people  have  many  stories  of 
fairy  visitors,  and  of  what  happened  in  their  own 
youth  and  in  the  time  of  their  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers. 

We  must  not,  however,  think  of  Irish  fairies  as 
tiny  creatures  who  could  hide  under  a  mushroom 
or  dance  on  a  blade  of  grass.  I  remember  well 
how  strongly  an  oldrwoman  from  Galway  repudiated 

*  Communicated  to  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club, 
January  i8,  1898. 


2 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


such  an  idea.  The  fairies,  according  to  her,  were 
indeed  small  people,  but  no  mushroom  could  give 
them  shelter.  She  described  them  as  about  the 
size  of  children,  and  as  far  as  I  can  ascertain  from 
inquiries  made  in  many  parts  of  Ulster  and  Munster, 
this  is  the  almost  universal  belief  among  the 
peasantry.  Sometimes  I  was  told  the  fairies  were 
as  large  as  a  well-grown  boy  or  girl,  sometimes  that 
they  were  as  small  as  children  beginning  to  walk; 
the  height  of  a  chair  or  a  table  was  often  used  as  a 
comparison,  and  on  one  occasion  an  old  woman 

I  spoke  of  them  as  being  about  the  size  of  monkeys. 
The  colour  red  appears  to  be  closely  associated 
with  these  little  people.    In  Co.  Waterford,  if  a 
child  has  a  red  handkerchief  on  its  head,  it  is  said 

\l  to  be  wearing  a  fairy  cap.  I  have  frequently  been 
told  of  the  small  men  in  red  jackets  running  about 
the  forts;  the  fairy  women  sometimes  appear  in 
red  cloaks;  and  I  have  heard  more  than  once  that 
fairies  have  red  hair. 

A  farmer  living  in  one  of  the  valleys  of  the  Mourne 
Mountains  said  he  had  seen  one  stormy  night  little 
creatures  with  red  hair,  about  the  size  of  children. 
I  asked  him  if  they  might  not  have  been  really 
children  from  some  of  the  cottages,  but  his  reply 
was  that  no  child  could  have  been  out  in  such 
weather. 

An  old  woman  living  near  Tullamore  Park,  Co. 
Down,  described  vividly  how,  going  out  to  look 
after  her  goat  and  its  young  kid,  she  had  heard 
loud  screams  and  seen  wild-looking  figures  with 


FAIRIES  AND  THEIR  DWELLING-PLACES  3 


scanty  clothing  whose  hair  stood  up  Hke  the  mane 
of  a  horse.  She  spoke  with  much  respect  of  the 
fairies  as  the  gentry,  said  they  formerly  inhabited 
hills  in  Tullamore  Park,  and  that  care  was  taken 
not  to  destroy  their  thorn-bushes.  She  related  the 
following  story :  As  a  friend  of  hers  was  sitting  alone 
one  night,  a  small  old  woman,  dressed  in  a  white 
cap  and  apron,  came  in  and  borrowed  a  bowl  of 
meal.  The  debt  was  repaid,  and  the  meal  brought 
by  the  fairy  put  in  the  barrel.  The  woman  kept 
the  matter  secret,  and  was  surprised  to  find  her 
barrel  did  not  need  replenishing.  At  last  her 
husband  asked  if  her  store  of  meal  was  not  coming 
to  an  end;  she  replied  that  she  would  show  him 
she  had  sufficient,  and  lifted  the  cover  of  the 
barrel.  To  her  astonishment  it  was  almost  empty; 
no  doubt,  had  she  kept  her  secret,  she  would  have 
had  an  unlimited  supply  of  meal. 

I  have  heard  several  similar  stories,  and  have  not 
found  that  any  evil  consequences  were  supposed 
to  follow  from  partaking  of  food  brought  by  the 
fairies.  Men  have  been  carried  off  by  them,  have 
•heard  their  beautiful  music,  seen  them  dancing,  or 
witnessed  a  fairy  battle  without  bringing  any  mis- 
fortune on  themselves.  On  the  other  hand,  accord- 
ing to  a  story  I  heard  at  Buncrana,  Co.  Donegal, 
a  little  herd-boy  paid  dearly  for  having  entered  one 
of  their  dwellings.  As  he  was  climbing  among 
the  rocks,  he  saw  a  cleft,  and  creeping  through  it 
came  to  where  a  fairy  woman  was  spinning  with 
her  "  weans,"  or  children,  around  her.    His  sister 


4 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


missed  him,  and  after  searching  for  a  time,  she  too, 
came  to  the  cleft,  and  looking  down  saw  her 
brother,  and  called  to  him  to  come  out.  He  came, 
but  was  never  able  to  speak  again. 

In  another  case  deafness  followed  intercourse 
with  the  fairies.  An  elderly  man  at  Maghera,  Co. 
Down,  told  me  that  his  brother  when  four  or  five 
years  old  went  out  with  his  father.  The  child  lay 
down  on  the  grass.  After  a  while  the  father  heard 
a  great  noise,  and  looking  up  saw  little  men  about 
two  feet  in  height  dancing  round  his  son.  He 
called  to  them  to  be  gone,  and  they  ran  towards 
a  fort  and  disappeared.  The  child  became  deaf, 
and  did  not  recover  his  hearing  for  ten  years.  He 
died  at  the  age  of  seventeen. 

To  cut  down  a  fairy  thorn  or  to  injure  the  house 
of  a  fairy  is  regarded  as  certain  to  bring  misfortune. 
An  old  woman  also  living  at  Maghera,  related 
how  her  great-grandmother  had  received  a  visit 
from  a  small  old  woman,  who  forbade  the  building 
of  a  certain  turf-stack,  saying  that  evil  would 
befall  anyone  who  injured  the  chimneys  of  her 
house.  The  warning  was  disregarded,  the  turf- 
stack  built,  and  before  long  four  cows  died. 

I  was  told  that  when  a  certain  fort  in  Co. 
Fermanagh  was  levelled  to  the  ground  misfortune 
overtook  the  men  who  did  the  work,  although, 
apparently,  they  were  only  labourers,  many  of  them 
dying  suddenly.  It  was  also  said  that  where  this 
fort  had  stood  there  were  caves  or  hollows  in  the 
ground  into  which  the  oxen  would  fall  when  plough- 


FAIRIES  AND  THEIR  DWELLING-PLACES  5 


ing.  An  attempt  to  bring  a  fort  near  Newcastle 
under  cultivation  is  believed  to  have  caused  the 
sudden  death  of  the  owner. 

The  fairies  are  celebrated  as  fine  musicians ;  they 
ride  on  small  horses ;  the  women  grind  meal,  and 
the  sound  of  their  spinning  is  often  heard  at  night  in 
the  peasants '  cottages .  The  following  story  is  related 
as  having  occurred  at  Camlough,  near  Newry. 

A  woman  was  spinning  one  evening  when  three 
fairies  came  into  the  house,  each  bringing  a  spinning- 
wheel.  They  said  they  would  help  her  with  her 
work,  and  one  of  them  asked  for  a  drink  of  water. 
The  woman  went  to  the  well  to  fetch  it.  When 
there  she  was  warned,  apparently  by  a  friendly 
fairy,  that  the  others  had  come  only  to  mock  and 
harm  her.  Acting  on  the  advice  of  this  friend,  the 
woman,  as  soon  as  she  had  given  water  to  the 
three,  turned  again  to  the  open  door,  and  stood 
looking  intently  towards  a  fort.  They  asked  what 
she  was  gazing  at,  and  the  reply  was:  "  At  the 
blaze  on  the  fort."  No  sooner  had  she  uttered 
these  words  than  the  three  fairies  rushed  out  with 
such  haste  that  one  of  them  left  her  spinning-wheel 
behind,  which,  according  to  the  story,  is  now  to  be 
seen  in  Dublin  Castle.  The  woman  then  shut  her 
door,  and  put  a  pin  in  the  keyhole,  thus  effectually 
preventing  the  return  of  her  visitors. 

In  this  story  we  have  probably  an  allusion  to 
the  signal  fires  which  are  believed  by  the  peasantry 
to  have  been  lit  on  the  forts  in  time  of  danger,  one 
fort  being  alwa3^s  within  view  of  another.  These 


6 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


forts,  or  raths,  appear  to  have  been  the  favourite 
abode  of  the  fairies.  To  use  the  language  of  the 
(  peasantry,  these  Httle  people  live  in  the  **  coves  of 
the  forths,"  an  expression  which  puzzled  me  until 
I  found  that  coves,  or  caves,  meant  underground 
passages — in  other  words,  souterrains. 

There  are  a  number  of  these  souterrains  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Castlewellan,  and  with  a  young 
friend,  who  helped  me  to  take  a  few  rough  measure- 
ments, I  explored  several. 
^     Ballymagreehan  Fort  is  a  short  distance  from 

/n 


Plan  of  Ballymagreehan  Souterrain. 

Castlewellan,  near  the  Newry  Road.  It  is  a  small 
fort,  and  on  the  top  we  saw  the  narrow  entrance 
to  the  souterrain.  Passing  down  through  this,  we 
found  ourselves  in  a  short  passage,  or  chamber, 
which  led  us  to  another  passage  at  right  angles  to 
the  first.  It  is  about  forty  feet  in  length  and  three 
feet  in  width;  the  height  varies  from  four  to  five 
feet.  The  roof  is  formed  of  flat  slabs,  and  the  walls 
are  carefully  built  of  round  stones,  but  without 
mortar.  At  one  end  this  passage  appeared  to 
terminate  in  a  wall,  but  at  the  other  it  was  only 
choked  with  fallen  stones  and  debris,  and  I  should 
think  had  formerly  extended  farther. 
Herman's  Fort  is  another  small  fort  on  the  oppo- 


FAIRIES  AND  THEIR  DWELLING-PLACES  7 


site  side  of  Castlewellan,  in  the  townland  of  ClarkilL 
Climbing  to  the  top  of  it,  we  came  to  an  enclosure 
where  several  thorn-bushes  were  growing.  The 
farmer  who  kindly  acted  as  our  guide  showed  us 
two  openings.  One  of  these  led  to  a  narrow  cham- 
ber fully  six  feet  high,  the  other  to  a  passage  more 
than  thirty  feet  in  length  and  about  three  feet  wide, 
while  the  height  varied  from  three  and  a  half  feet 
in  one  part  to  more  than  five  feet  in  another.  I  was 
told  that  water  is  always  to  be  found  near  these 
forts,  and  was  shown  a  well  which  had  existed  from 
time  immemorial;  the  sides  were  built  of  round 
stones  without  mortar,  in  the  same  way  as  the  walls 
of  the  passage. 

We  heard  here  of  another  souterrain  about  a 
mile  distant,  called  Backaderry  Cove.  It  is  on  the 
side  of  a  hill  close  to  the  road  leading  from  Castle- 
wellan to  Dromara.  A  number  of  thorn-bushes 
grow  near  the  place,  but  there  is  no  mound,  either 
natural  or  artificial.  Creeping  through  the  opening, 
we  found  ourselves  in  a  passage  about  forty  feet  in 
length;  a  chamber  opens  off  it  nine  feet  in  length, 
and  between  five  and  six  feet  in  height,  while  the 
-  height  of  the  passage  varies  from  four  and  a  half  to 
five  and  a  half  feet.  There  is  a  tradition  that  this 
passage  formerly  connected  Backaderry  with  Her- 
man's Fort. 

Ballyginney  Fort  is  near  Maghera.  I  only  saw 
the  entrance  to  the  souterrain,  but  from  what  I 
heard  I  beheve  that  here  also  there  is  a  chamber 
opening  off  the  passage.    The  farmer  on  whose  land 


8 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


the  fort  is  situated  told  me  that  one  dry  summer 
he  had  planted  flax  in  the  field  adjoining  the  fort. 
The  small  depth  of  soil  above  the  flat  slabs  affected 
the  crop,  so  that  by  the  difference  in  the  flax  it  was 
easy  to  trace  where  the  passage  ran  below  the  field. 

We  have  seen  that  the  fairies  are  believed  to 
inhabit  the  souterrains;  they  are  also  said  to  live 
inside  certain  hills,  and  in  forts  where,  so  far  as  is 
known,  no  underground  structure  exists.  I  may 
mention  as  an  example  the  large  fort  on  the  Shimna 
River,  near  Newcastle,  where  I  was  told  their 
music  was  often  to  be  heard.  There  may  be  many 
souterrains  whose  entrance  has  been  choked  up, 
and  of  which  no  record  has  been  preserved.  Mr. 
Bigger  gave  last  session  an  interesting  account  of 
one  discovered  at  Stranocum ;  another  was  acci- 
dentally found  last  September  in  a  field  about  three 
miles  from  Newry.  Mr.  Mann  Harbison,  who 
visited  the  souterrain,  writes  to  me  that  the  excava- 
tion has  been  made  in  a  circular  portion  which  is 
six  feet  wide  and  five  feet  high.  A  gallery  opens 
out  of  this  chamber,  and  is  in  some  places  not  more 
than  three  feet  six  inches  high. 

The  building  of  the  forts  and  souterrains  is 
ascribed  by  the  country  people  to  the  Danes,  a  race 
of  whom  various  traditions  exist.  They  are  said 
to  have  had  red  hair ;  sometimes  they  are  spoken  of 
as  large  men,  sometimes  as  short  men.  One  old 
woman,  who  had  Httle  belief  in  fairies,  told  me  that 
in  the  old  troubled  times  in  Ireland  people  lived 
inside  the  forts;  these  people  were  the  Danes,  and 


FAIRIES  AND  THEIR  DWELLING-PLACES  9 


they  used  to  light  fires  on  the  top  as  a  signal  from 
one  fort  to  another.  I  heard  from  an  elderly  man 
of  Danes  having  encamped  on  his  grandmother's 
farm.  Smoke  was  seen  rising  from  an  unfrequented 
spot,  and  when  an  uncle  went  to  investigate  the 
matter  he  found  small  huts  with  no  doors,  only  a 
bundle  of  sticks  laid  across  the  entrance.  In  one  of 
the  huts  he  saw  a  pot  boiling  on  the  fire,  and  going 
forward  he  began  to  stir  the  contents.  Immediately 
a  red-haired  man  and  woman  rushed  in;  they 
appeared  angry  at  the  intrusion,  and  when  he  went 
out  threw  a  plate  after  him. 

The  traditions  in  regard  both  to  Danes  and  fairies 
are  very  similar  in  different  parts  of  Ireland.  In 
Co.  Cavan  the  country  people  spoke  of  the  beautiful 
music  of  the  fairies,  and  told  me  of  their  living  in 
a  fort  near  Lough  Oughter.  One  woman  said  they 
were  sometimes  called  Ganelochs,  and  were  about 
the  size  of  children,  and  an  old  man  described  them 
as  little  people  about  one  or  two  feet  high,  riding 
on  small  horses. 

In  Co.  Waterford  I  was  told  that  the  fairies  were 
not  ghosts:  they  lived  in  the  air.  One  man  might 
see  them  while  they  would  be  invisible  to  others. 

In  an  interesting  lecture  on  the  "  Customs  and 
Superstitions  of  the  Southern  Irish,"  the  Rev.  J.  B. 
Leslie,  who  has  kindly  allowed  me  to  quote  from  his 
manuscript,  describes  the  fairies  as  "  a  species  of 
beings  neither  men  nor  angels  nor  ghosts.  .  .  . 
They  are  connected  in  the  popular  imagination 
with  the  Danish  forts  which  are  common  in  the 


10 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


country.  In  these  they  seem  to  have  their  abode 
underground.  At  night  they  hold  here  high  revels — 
in  grand  banqueting-halls — and  in  these  revels  there 
must  always,  I  believe,  be  a  living  human  being. 
The  fairies  are  often  called  the  '  good  people  ' ;  some 
think  they  are  *  fallen  angels.'  They  are  usually 
thought  of  as  harmless  creatures,  unless,  of  course, 
they  are  interfered  with,  when  the  power  they  wield 
is  very  great.  They  are  very  fond  of  games;  some 
testify  that  they  have  seen  them  play  football, 
others  hurley,  while  playing  at  marbles  is  a  special 
pastime,  and  I  have  even  heard  of  persons  who 
have  discovered  *  fairy  marbles  *  near  or  in  these 
forts.  No  one  will  interfere  with  the  forts;  they 
fear  the  power  and  anger  of  the  fairies." 

While  the  fairies  are  generally  associated  with  the 
forts,  I  heard  both  in  Co.  Down  and  Co.  Kerry  of 
their  living  in  caves  in  the  mountains,  and  a  lad 
whom  I  met  near  the  Gap  of  Dunloe  described  them 
as  having  cloven  feet  and  black  hair. 

A  boatman  at  Killarney  spoke  of  the  Leprechauns 
as  little  men  about  three  feet  in  height,  wearing 
red  caps.  He  thought  the  fairies  might  be  taller, 
and  spoke  of  their  living  in  the  forts.  He  said  these 
forts  had  been  built  by  the  Danes,  who  must  have 
been  small  men,  when  they  made  the  passages  so 
low.  We  thus  see  that  fairies  and  Danes  are  both 
associated  with  these  ancient  structures.  Although 
the  Irish  peasant  speaks  of  these  Danes  having  been 
conquered  by  Brian  Boru,  the  structure  and  position 
of  the  raths  and  souterrains  point  to  their  having 


FAIRIES  AND  THEIR  DWELLING-PLACES  11 


been  the  work  of  one  of  the  earHer  Irish  races  rather 
than  of  the  medieval  Norsemen.  ^^^^  ^&8l^ 
appears  to  identify  them  with  the  Tuat 
Danann  whose  necromantic  power  is  celebrated 
in  Irish  tales,  and  of  whom,  according  to  O 'Curry, 
one  class  of  fairies  are  the  representatives.  I  know 
that  some  high  authorities  regard  the  Tuatha  de 
Danann  and  the  fairies  as  alike  mythological  beings. 
The  latter  are  certainly  in  popular  legend  endowed 
with  superhuman  attributes;  they  can  transport 
people  long  distances,  creep  through  keyholes,  and 
the  fairy  changeling,  when  placed  on  the  fire,  can 
escape  up  the  chimney  and  grin  at  his  tormentors. 
If  we  ask  the  country  people  who  are  the  fairies, 
the  reply  is  frequently, "  Fallen  angels."  According 
to  an  old  woman  in  Donegal,  these  angels  fell,  some 
on  the  sea,  some  on  the  earth,  while  some  remained  in 
the  air;  the  fairies  were  those  who  fell  on  the  earth. 

These  "  fallen  angels  "  may  be  the  representatives 
of  the  spirits  whom  the  pagan  Irish  worshipped  and 
strove  to  propitiate,  and  some  of  the  tales  relating 
to  the  fairies  may  have  their  origin  in  the  mythology 
of  a  primitive  people.  But  the  raths  and  souter- 
rains  are  certainly  the  work  of  human  hands,  and  I 
would  suggest  that  in  the  legends  connected  with 
them  we  have  a  reminiscence  of  a  dwarf  race  who 
rode  on  ponies,  were  good  musicians,  could  spin  and 
weave,  and  grind  corn.  The  traditions  would  point  h 
to  their  being  red-haired. 

Mr.  Mann  Harbison  has  kindly  written  to  me 
on  this  subject,  and  expresses  his  belief  that  the 


12 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


souterrains  "  were  constructed  by  a  diminutive 
race,  probably  allied  to  the  modern  Lapps,  who 
seem  to  be  the  survivors  of  a  widely  distributed 
race.*'  In  another  letter  he  says:  The  universal 
idea  of  fairies  is  very  suggestive.  The  tall  Celts, 
when  they  arrived,  saw  the  small  people  disappear 
in  a  mysterious  way,  and,  without  stopping  to 
investigate,  imagined  they  had  become  invisible. 
If  they  had  had  the  couragd  or  the  patience  to 
investigate,  they  would  have  found  that  they  had 
passed  into  their  sou  terrain." 

In  his  work  "  Fians,  Fairies,  and  Picts,"  Mr. 
David  MacRitchie  argues  that  these  three  names 
belong  to  similar  if  not  identical  dwarf  races  in 
Scotland.  The  Tuatha  de  Danann  he  also  regards 
as  of  the  same  race  as  the  fairies,  or,  to  give  them 
their  Irish  name,  the  Fir  Sidhe,  the  men  of  the 
green  mounds. 

The  remains  of  the  ancient  cave-dwellers  point 
to  a  primitive  race  of  small  size  inhabiting  Europe. 
Dr.  Munro,  in  his  work  "  Prehistoric  Problems," 
refers  to  the  skeletons  discovered  at  Spy  in  Belgium 
by  MM.Lohest  and  De  Pudzt.  He  describes  them 
as  examples  of  a  very  early  and  low  type  of  the 
human  race,  and  states  that  Professor  Fraipont, 
who  examined  them  anatomically,  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Spy  men  belonged  to  a  race 
relatively  of  small  stature,  analogous  to  the  modern 
Laplanders,  having  voluminous  heads,  massive 
bodies,  short  arms,  and  bent  legs.  They  led  a 
sedentary  life,  frequented  caves,  manufactured  flint 


FAIRIES  AND  THEIR  DWELLING-PLACES  13 


implements  after  the  type  known  as  Moust^rien, 
and  were  contemporary  with  the  Mammoth."* 

Let  us  compare  this  description  with  that  in  the 
ballad  of  "  The  Wee,  Wee  Man  ":t 

"  His  legs  were  scarce  a  shathmont'sj  length, 

And  thick  and  thimber  was  his  thigh ;  i 
Between  his  brows  there  was  a  span,  • 
And  between  his  shoulders  there  was  three." 

I  do  not,  however,  mean  to  suggest  that  the 
builders  of  the  raths  and  souterrains  were  con- 
temporary with  the  men  of  Spy,  but  rather  that 
a  small  race  of  primitive  men  may  have  existed 
until  a  comparatively  late  period  in  this  country. 
Leading  a  desultory  warfare  with  their  neighbours, 
they^ would  carry  off  women  and  children,  and 
injure  the  cattle  with  their  stone  weapons.  We 
should  note  that  in  the  traditions  of  the  peasantry, 
and  also  in  the  old  ballads,  those  who  have  been 
carried  off  by  the  fairies  can  frequently  be  released 
from  captivity,  and  they  return,  not  as  ghosts,  but 
as  living  men  or  women.  May  we  not  see  in  these 
legends  traces  of  a  struggle  between  a  primitive 
race,  whose  gods  may  have  been,  like  themselves,  of 
diminutive  stature,  and  their  more  civilized  neigh- 
bours, who  accepted  the  teaching  of  the  early 
Christian  missionaries  ? 

*  P.  141. 

t  "  Ancient  and  Modern  Scottish  Songs,"  published  anony- 
mously, but  known  to  have  been  collected  by  David  Herd 
(vol.  i.,  p.  95,  ed.  1776). 

I  The  fist  closed  with  thumb  extended,  and  may  be  con- 
sidered a  measure  of  about  six  inches. 

(f' 


A  Day  at  Maghera,  Go.  Londonderry  * 


NE  fine  morning  last  August  I  found  myself 


in  the  quaint  old  town  of  Maghera.  My  first 
visit  was  to  the  post-ofiice,  where  I  bought  some 
picture-cards,  and  inquired  my  way  to  Killelagh 
Church,  the  Cromlech,  and  the  Sweat-house,  as  it 
is  called,  where  formerly  people  indulged  in  a 
vapour-bath  to  cure  rheumatism  and  other  com- 
plaints. I  was  told  to  follow  the  main  street.  This 
I  did,  and  when  I  came  to  the  outskirts  of  the  town 
I  tried  to  get  a  guide,  and  spoke  to  a  boy  at  one  of 
the  cottages.  He,  however,  knew  very  little,  but 
fortunately  saw  an  elderly  man  coming  down  the 
road,  who  consented  to  show  me  the  way,  and 
proved  an  excellent  guide.  His  name  is  Daniel 
McKenna,  a  coach-builder  by  trade.  His  father, 
who  was  teacher  in  Maghera  National  School  for 
thirty-five  years,  knew  Irish  well,  and  I  understand 
gave  Dr.  Joyce  information  in  regard  to  some  of  the 
place-names  in  Co.  Derry.  Taking  a  road  which 
led  in  a  north-westerly  direction,  we  came  to  the 
Cromlech,  and  a  few  yards  farther  on  saw  the  old 
Church  of  Killelagh. 

*  Read  before  the  Archaeological  Section  of  the  Belfast 
Naturalists'  Field  Club,  January  15,  191 3. 


A  DAY  AT  MAGHERA,  CO.  LONDONDERRY  15 


My  guide  pointed  out  that  the  doorstep  was 
much  worn,  doubtless  by  the  feet  of  those  who 
during  many  centuries  had  passed  over  it;  he 
showed  me,  too,  the  strong  walls,  and  said  the 
mortar  had  been  cemented  with  the  blood  of 
bullocks.  This  probably  recalls  an  ancient  custom, 
when  an  animal — in  still  earlier  times  it  might  be 
a  human  being* — was  slain  to  propitiate  or  drive 
away  the  evil  spirits  and  secure  the  stability  of  the 
building.  A  similar  tradition  exists  in  regard  to 
Roughan  Castle,  the  stronghold  of  PheUm  O'Neill, 
in  Co.  Tyrone. 

Leaving  Killelagh  Church,  we  continued  our 
walk,  and  I  asked  my  guide  about  the  customs  and 
traditions  of  the  country.  He  told  me  that  on 
Hallow  Eve  Night  salt  is  put  on  the  heads  of  chil- 
dren to  protect  them  from  the  fairies.  These  fairies, 
or  wee  folk,  are  about  three  feet  in  height,  some  not 
so  tall;  they  are  of  different  races  or  tribes,  and 
have  pitched  battles  at  the  Pecht's  graveyard. 

*  In  "My  Schools  and  Schoolmasters"  (chap,  x.,  pp. 
222-223,  cel.  1854,  Hugh  Miller  describes  the  goblin  who 
haunted  Craig  House,  near  Cromarty  Firth,  as  a  "  grey-headed, 
grey-bearded,  little  old  maji,"  and  the  apparition  was  thus 
explained  by  a  herdboy :  "  Oh  I  they're  saying  it's  the  spirit  of 
the  man  that  was  killed  on  the  foundation-stone  just  after  it 
was  laid,  and  then  built  intil  the  wa'  by  the  masons,  that  he 
might  keep  the  castle  by  coming  back  again ;  and  they're  saying 
that  a'  the  verra  auld  houses  in  the  kintra  had  murderit  men 
builded  intil  them  in  that  way,  and  that  they  have  a'  o'  them 
this  bogle." 

In  "  The  Study  of  Man,"  Professor  Haddon  gives  a  number 
of  allusions  to  the  human  sacrifice  in  the  building  of  bridges 
(PP-  347-356). 


16 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


This  is  a  place  covered  with  rough  mounds  and 
very  rough  stones,  and  is  looked  on  as  a  great 
playground  of  the  fairies ;  people  passing  through  it 
are  often  led  astray  by  them.  The  Pechts,  or  Picts, 
were  described  to  me  as  having  long  black  hair, 
which  grew  in  tufts ;  they  were  small  people,  about 
four  feet  six  inches  in  height,  thick  set,  nearly  as 
broad  as  they  were  long,  strong  in  arms  and 
shoulders,  and  with  very  large  feet.  When  a 
shower  of  rain  came  on,  they  would  stand  on  their 
heads  and  shelter  themselves  under  their  feet. 
Some  years  ago  I  was  told  a  similar  story  in  Co. 
Antrim  of  the  Pechts  lying  down  and  using  their 
feet  as  umbrellas.* 

I  regretted  we  had  not  time  to  visit  a  large  fort 
we  passed  on  the  way  to  Ballyknock  Farmhouse. 
Here  we  left  the  road,  and,  passing  through  some 
fields,  came  to  the  old  Sweat-house.  As  you  will 
see  from  the  photograph  kindly  given  to  me  by 
Mr.  Lytle  of  Maghera,  the  entrance  is  on  the  side 
of  a  bank.  It  is  a  much  more  primitive  structure 
than  those  at  the  Struel  Wells,  near  Downpatrick. 
No  mortar  has  been  used  in  its  construction,  and  I 
should  say  it  is  an  old  souterrain,  or  part  of  a 


souterrain.    The   following  are 

rough  measure- 

ments : 

Height  of  entrance 

2  feet. 

Width  of  entrance 

15  inches 

Height  of  interior 

5  feet  5  inches. 

Width  of  interior 

3  feet. 

Length  of  interior 

9  feet. 

*  See  p.  27. 

Plate  IV.  [K.  Welcli,  Photo. 

RUSH    AND    STRAW  CROSSES. 


A  DAY  AT  MAGHERA,  CO.  LONDONDERRY  17 

This  building,  as  already  mentioned,  was  used 
by  those  suffering  from  rheumatism,  and  near  the 
entrance  is  a  well  in  which  the  patients  bathed  to 
complete  the  cure. 

While  we  were  resting  I  asked  about  rush  crosses, 
which  are  put  up  in  many  cottages  at  Maghera, 
and,  gathering  some  rushes,  Daniel  McKenna  showed 
me  how  they  were  made.  He  told  me  that  on 
St.  Bridget's  Eve,  January  31,  children  are  sent 
out  to  pull  rushes,  which  must  not  be  cut  with  a 
knife.  When  these  rushes  are  brought  in,  the 
family  gather  round  the  fire  and  make  the  crosses, 
which  are  sprinkled  with  holy  water.  The  wife  or 
eldest  daughter  prepares  tea  and  pancakes,  and  the 
plate  of  pancakes  is  laid  on  the  top  of  the  rush  cross. 
Prayers  are  said,  and  the  family  partake  of  St. 
Bridget's  supper.  The  crosses  are  hung  up  over 
doors  and  beds  to  bring  good  luck.  In  former 
times  sowans  or  flummery  was  eaten  instead  of 
pancakes.  I  have  heard  of  similar  customs  in 
other  places.  At  Tobermore  those  who  bring  in  the 
rushes  ask  at  the  door,  "  May  St.  Bridget  come  in  ?" 
"  Yes,  she  may,"  is  the  answer.  The  rushes  are 
put  on  a  rail  under  the  table  while  the  family  par- 
take of  tea.  Afterwards  the  crosses  are  made,  and, 
as  at  Maghera,  hung  up  over  doors  and  beds.* 

This  custom  probably  comes  to  us  from  pre- 
Christian  times.  The  cross  in  its  varied  forms  is 
a  very  ancient  symbol,  sometimes  representing  the 

*  In  Plate  IV.  the  larger  cross  is  of  rushes,  the  smaller  one 
is  made  of  straw. 


18 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


sun,  sometimes  the  four  winds  of  heaven.  Schlieman 
discovered  it  on  the  pottery  of  the  Troad;  it  is 
found  in  Egypt,  India,  China,  and  Japan,  and 
among  the  people  of  the  Bronze  Period  it  appears 
frequently  on  pottery,  jewellery,  and  coins. 

Now,  St.  Bridget  had  a  pagan  predecessor,  Brigit, 
a  poetess  of  the  Tuatha  de  Danann,  and  whom  we 
may  perhaps  regard  as  a  female  Apollo.  Cormac, 
in  his  Glossary,'*  tells  us  she  was  a  daughter  of 
the  Dagda  and  a  goddess  whom  all  poets  adored, 
and  whose  two  sisters  were  Brigit  the  physician 
and  Brigit  the  smith.  Probably  the  three  sisters 
represent  the  same  divine  or  semi-divine  person 
whom  we  may  identify  with  the  British  goddess 
Brigantia  and  the  Gaulish  Brigindo. 

May  we  not  see,  then,  in  these  rush  crosses  a  very 
ancient  symbol,  used  in  pagan  times,  and  which 
was  probably  consecrated  by  early  Christian  mis- 
sionaries, and  given  a  new  significance? 

The  harvest  knots  or  bows  are  connected  with 
another  old  custom  which  was,  until  recently, 
observed  at  Maghera.  When  the  harvest  was 
gathered  in,  the  last  handful  of  oats,  the  corn  of 
this  country,  was  left  standing.  It  was  plaited  in 
three  parts  and  tied  at  the  top,  and  was  called  by 
the  Irish  name  "  luchter."  The  reapers  stood  at 
some  distance,  and  threw  their  sickles  at  the 
luchter,  and  the  man  who  cut  it  was  exempt  from 
paying  his  share  of  the  feast.  Daniel  McKenna 
told  me  he  had  seen  some  fine  sickles  broken  in 
trying  to  hit  the  luchter.    It  was  afterwards  carried 


A  DAY  AT  MAGHERA,  CO.  LONDONDERRY  19 

home;  the  young  girls  plaited  harvest  knots  and 
put  them  in  their  hair,  while  the  lads  wore  them 
in  their  caps  and  buttonholes.  A  dance  followed 
the  feast.  The  knots,  with  the  ears  of  corn 
attached,  are,  I  am  told,  the  true  old  Irish  type, 
while  it  is  thought  that  the  smaller  ones  were  made 
after  a  pattern  brought  from  England  by  the 
harvest  reapers  on  their  return  home.  I  heard  of 
the  same  custom  at  Portstewart  and  also  in  the 
Valley  of  the  Roe,  where  the  last  sheaf  of  oats  was 
called  the  "  hare,"  and  the  throwing  of  the  sickles 
was  termed  the  "  churn."  In  some  places  the  last 
sheaf  itself  was  called  the  "  churn,"  but  by  whatever 
name  it  was  known  the  man  who  hit  it  was  regarded 
as  the  victor,  and  was  given  the  best  seat  at  the 
feast,  or  a  reward  of  some  kind.  An  old  woman 
above  ninety  j^ears  of  age  repeated  to  me  a  song 
about  the  churn,  or  kirn,  and  she  and  many  others 
remember  well  the  custom  and  the  feast  which 
followed,  when  both  whisky  and  tea  were  served. 

In  some  districts  the  last  sheaf  is  termed  the 
"  Cailleagh,"*  or  old  wife. 

A  similar  custom  in  Devonshire  has  been  described 

*  Mr.  McKean  kindly  informs  me  that  he  has  found  this 
name  or  its  modification  "Collya  "  in  Counties  Armagh,  Mona- 
ghan,  and  Tyrone;  also  near  Cushendall,  Co.  Antrim,  where 
the  ceremony  is  called  "  cutting  the  Cailleagh."  He  was  told 
this  Cailleagh  was  an  old  witch,  and  by  "  killing  "  her  and 
taking  her  into  the  house  you  got  good  luck.  At  Ballyatoge. 
at  the  back  of  Cat  Carn  Hill,  near  Belfast,  in  the  descent  to 
Crumlin,  the  custom  is  called  "  cutting  the  Granny."  At 
Ballycastle,  Co.  Antrim,  the  plait  or  braid  is  called  the  "  car- 
line." 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


by  Mr.  Pearse  Chope  in  the  London  Devonian  Year 
Book  for  1910,  p.  127.  Here  corn  is  wheat,  and  a 
sheaf  of  the  finest  ears,  termed  the  neck,"  is 
carried  by  one  of  the  men  to  an  elevated  spot ;  the 
reapers  form  themselves  into  a  ring,  and  each  man 
holding  his  hook  above  his  head,  they  all  join  in 
"  the  weird  cry,  *  A  neck  !  a  neck  !  a  neck  !  We 
ha'  un !  we  ha'  un  !  we  ha'  un  !'  This  is  repeated 
several  times,  with  the  occasional  variation  :  '  A 
neck  !  a  neck  !  a  neck !  God  sa'  un !  God  sa'  un ! 
God  sa'  un!'  After  this  ceremony  the  man  with 
the  neck  has  to  run  to  the  kitchen,  and  get  it  there 
dry,  while  the  maids  wait  with  buckets  and  pitchers 
of  water  to '  souse '  him  and  the  neck."  Mr.  Chope 
adds  that  in  most  cases  the  neck  is  more  or  less  in 
the  form  of  a  woman,  and  undoubtedly  represented 
the  spirit  of  the  harvest,  and  that  "  the  main 
idea  of  the  ceremony  seems  to  have  been  that  in 
cutting  the  corn  the  spirit  was  gradually  driven 
into  the  last  handful.  ...  As  it  was  needful  to 
cut  the  corn  and  bury  the  seed,  so  it  was  necessary 
to  kill  the  corn  spirit  in  order  that  it  might  rise  again 
in  fresh  youth  and  vigour  in  the  coming  crop."* 

I  think  we  may  safely  assume  that  the  Irish 
churn  had  a  similar  origin,  and  that  in  throwing 
the  sickles  the  aim  of  the  ancient  reapers  was  to 
kill  the  spirit  of  the  corn. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  North  of  Ireland  the 

*  Dr.  Frazer  also  describes  this  Devonshire  custom  (see 
Golden  Bough,  "  Spirits  of  the  Corn  and  the  Wild,"  vol.  i., 
pp.  264-267). 


FlATK  VI. 


CHURN 


[R.  Welch,  Fhoto. 


A  DAY  AT  MAGHERA,  CO.  LONDONDERRY  21 


last  sheaf  is  frequently  termed  the  "  hare,"  and 
in  many  other  countries  the  corn  spirit  takes  the 
form  of  an  animal.  In  his  recent  volumes  of  the 
Golden  Bough,  entitled  Spirits  of  the  Corn  and  the 
Wild,"  Dr.  Frazer  mentions  many  animals,  such 
as  the  wolf,  goat,  fox,  dog,  bull,  cow,  horse,  hare, 
which  represent  the  corn  spirit  lurking  in  the  last 
patch  of  standing  corn.  He  tells  us  that  "  at 
harvest  a  number  of  wild  animals,  such  as  hares, 
rabbits,  and  partridges,  are  commonly  driven  by 
the  progress  of  the  reaping  into  the  last  patch  of 
standing  corn,  and  make  their  escape  from  it  as 
it  is  being  cut  down.  .  .  .  Now,  primitive  man, 
to  whom  magical  changes  of  shape  seem  perfectly 
credible,  finds  it  most  natural  that  the  spirit  of 
the  corn,  driven  from  his  home  in  the  ripe  grain, 
should  make  his  escape  in  the  form  of  the  animal, 
which  is  seen  to  rush  out  of  the  last  patch  of  corn 
as  it  falls  under  the  scythe  of  the  reaper."* 

To  return  to  Maghera.  The  morning  passed 
swiftly  as  I  listened  to  my  guide's  description  of 
these  old  customs,  and  it  was  after  two  o'clock 
when  I  said  good-bye  to  him  at  his  cottage,  and 
found  myself  again  in  the  main  street  of  Maghera. 
I  now  wished  to  visit  the  Fort  of  Dunglady,  and 
after  a  refreshing  cup  of  tea,  engaged  a  car.  The 
driver  knew  the  country  well,  and,  going  uphill  and 
downhill,  we  passed  through  the  village  of  Cul- 
nady,  and  were  soon  close  to  this  fine  fort.  A 
few  minutes'  walk,  and  I  stood  on  the  outer  ram- 

*  **  Spirits  of  the  Corn  and  the  Wild,'*  vol.  i.,  pp.  304.  305. 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


part,  and  gazed  across  the  inner  circles  at  the 
cattle  grazing  on  the  central  enclosure. 

This  fort  was  visited  in  1902  by  the  Royal  Society 
of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland,  when  a  very  interesting 
paper,  written  by  Miss  Jane  Clark  of  Kilrea,  was 
read .  She  mentions  that  Dr.  O 'Donovan  considered 
this  fort  one  of  the  most  interesting  he  had  met 
with;  not  so  magnificent  as  the  Dun  of  Keltar  at 
Downpatrick,  but  much  better  fortified,  and  states 
that  a  map  of  the  time  of  Charles  L  represents 
Dunglady  Fort  as  a  prominent  object,  and  shows 
three  houses  built  upon  it,  one  of  considerable 
size.  Quoting  from  an  unpublished  letter  of  Mr. 
J.  Stokes,  she  refers  to  the  triple  rampart,  which 
makes  the  diameter  of  the  whole  to  be  three 
hundred  and  thirty  feet.  There  was  formerly  a 
draw  well  in  the  middle  of  the  fort,  and  at  one 
time  it  was  used  as  a  burial-ground  by  members 
of  the  Society  of  Friends.  Miss  Clark  also  referred 
to  a  smaller  fort  at  Culnady,  which  had  been 
demolished.  The  two  mounds  in  the  centre  of 
this  rath  had  been  formed  of  earth  on  a  stone 
foundation. 

A  rapid  drive  brought  me  back  to  Maghera  in 
time  for  a  short  visit  to  the  ruins  of  the  Church  of 
St.  Lurach,  popularly  known  in  the  district  as 
St.  Lowry.  There  is  a  curious  sculpture  of  the 
Crucifixion  over  the  west  doorway,  which  is  shown 
in  the  sketch  of  this  doorway  by  Petrie  in  Lord 
Dunraven's  "  Notes  on  Irish  Architecture."* 
*  Vol.  i.,  p.  115. 


A  DAY  AT  MAGHERA,  CO.  LONDONDERRY  28 

I  must  now  conclude  this  account  of  my  visit 
to  Maghera,  but  may  I  mention  that  farther  north 
there  are  other  interesting  antiquities  ?  The  large 
cromlech,  called  the  Broadstone,  is  some  miles 
from  Kilrea.  There  are  several  forts  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  that  town,  which  draws  its  supply  of 
water  from  a  fairy  well. 


Ulster  Fairies,  Danes  and  Pechts* 

THE  fairy  lore  of  Ulster  is  doubtless  dying 
out,  but  much  may  yet  be  learned  about  the 
"  gentle  "  folk,  and  as  we  listen  to  the  stories  told 
by  the  peasantry,  we  may  well  ask  ourselves  what 
is  the  meaning  of  these  old  legends. 

Fairies  are  regarded  on  the  whole  as  a  kindly 
race  of  beings,  although  if  offended  they  will  work 
dire  vengeance.  They  have  no  connection  with 
churchyards,  and  are  quite  distinct  from  ghosts. 
One  old  woman,  who  had  much  to  say  about  fairies, 
when  asked  about  ghosts,  replied  rather  scorn- 
fully, that  she  did  not  believe  in  them.  The 
fairies  are  supposed  to  be  small — "  wee  folk  " — 
but  we  must  not  think  of  them  as  tiny  creatures 
who  could  hide  in  a  foxglove.  To  use  a 
North  of  Ireland  phrase,  they  are  the  size  of  a 
"  lump  of  a  boy  or  girl!"  and  have  been  often 
mistaken  for  ordinary  men  or  women,  until  their 
sudden  disappearance  marked  them  as  unearthly. 

A  farmer  in  Co.  Antrim  told  me  that  once  when 
a  man  was  taking  stones  from  a  cave  in  a  fort, 
an  old  man  came  and  asked  him  would  it  not  be 
better  to  get  his  stones  elsewhere  than  from  those 
ancient  buildings.    The  other,  however,  continued 

*  Reprinted  from  the  Antiquary,  August,  1906, 
24 


ULSTER  FAIRIES,  DANES  AND  PECHTS  25 

his  work ;  but  when  the  stranger  suddenly  dis- 
appeared, he  became  convinced  that  his  questioner 
was  no  ordinary  mortal.  In  after-life  he  often  said 
sadly:  "  He  was  a  poor  man,  and  would  always 
remain  a  poor  man,  because  he  had  taken  stones 
from  that  cave."  The  cave  was  no  doubt  a 
souterrain. 

An  elderly  woman  in  Co.  Antrim  told  me  that 
when  a  child  she  one  evening  saw  "  a  little  old 
woman  with  a  green  cloak  coming  over  the  burn." 
She  helped  her  to  cross,  and  afterwards  took  her 
to  the  cottage,  where  her  mother  received  the 
stranger  kindly,  told  her  she  was  sorry  she  could 
not  give  her  a  bed  in  the  house,  but  that  she  might 
sleep  in  one  of  the  outhouses.  The  children 
made  Grannie  as  comfortable  as  they  could,  and 
in  the  morning  went  out  early  to  see  how  she  was. 
They  found  her  up  and  ready  to  leave.  The  child 
who  had  first  met  her  said  she  would  again  help 
her  across  the  burn — "  But  wait,"  she  added, 
"  until  I  get  my  bonnet."  She  ran  into  the  house, 
but  before  she  came  out  the  old  woman  had  dis- 
appeared. 

When  the  mother  heard  of  this  she  said:  "  God 
bless  you,  child  !  Don't  mind  Grannie;  she  is  very 
well  able  to  take  care  of  herself."  And  so  it  was 
believed  that  Grannie  was  a  fairy. 

I  have  also  heard  of  a  little  old  man  in  a  three- 
cornered  hat,  at  first  mistaken  for  a  neighbour, 
but  whose  sudden  disappearance  proved  him  to  be 
a  fairy. 


26 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


In  the  time  of  the  press-gang  a  crowd  was  seen 
approaching  some  cottages.  Great  alarm  ensued, 
and  the  young  men  fled ;  but  it  was  soon  discovered 
that  these  people  did  not  come  from  a  man-of-war 
— they  were  fairies. 

A  terrible  story,  showing  how  the  fairies  can 
punish  their  captives,  was  told  me  by  an  old  woman 
at  Armoy,  in  Co.  Antrim,  who  vouched  for  it  as 
being  "  candid  truth."  A  man's  wife  was  carried 
away  by  the  fairies ;  he  married  again,  but  one  night 
his  first  wife  met  him,  told  him  where  she  was, 
and  besought  him  to  release  her,  saying  that  if  he 
would  do  so  she  would  leave  that  part  of  the  country 
and  not  trouble  him  any  more.  She  begged  him, 
however,  not  to  make  the  attempt  unless  he  were 
confident  he  could  carry  it  out,  as  if  he  failed  she 
would  die  a  terrible  death.  He  promised  to  save 
her,  and  she  told  him  to  watch  at  midnight,  when 
she  would  be  riding  past  the  house  with  the  fairies ; 
she  would  put  her  hand  in  at  the  window,  and  he 
must  grasp  it  and  hold  tight.  He  did  as  she  bade 
him,  and  although  the  fairies  pulled  hard,  he  had 
nearly  saved  her,  when  his  second  wife  saw  what 
was  going  on,  and  tore  his  hand  away.  The  poor 
woman  was  dragged  off,  and  across  the  fields  he 
heard  her  piercing  cries,  and  saw  next  morning  the 
drops  of  blood  where  the  fairies  had  murdered  her. 

Another  v/oman  was  more  fortunate;  she  was 
carried  off  by  the  fairies  at  Cushendall,  but  was 
able  to  inform  her  friends  when  she  and  the  fairies 
would  be  going  on  a  journey,  and  she  told  them 


ULSTER  FAIRIES,  DANES  AND  PECHTS  27 


that  if  they  stroked  her  with  the  branch  of  a  rowan- 
tree  she  would  be  free.  They  did  as  she  desired. 
She  returned  to  them,  apparently  having  suffered 
no  injury,  and  in  the  course  of  time  she  married. 

This  story  was  told  me  by  a  man  ninety  years  of 
age,  living  in  Glenshesk,  in  the  north  of  Co.  Antrim. 
He  spoke  of  the  fairies  as  being  about  two  feet  in 
height,  said  they  were  dressed  in  green,  and  had 
been  seen  in  daylight  making  hats  of  rushes.  In 
Donegal  I  was  also  told  that  the  fairies  wore  high 
peaked  hats  made  of  plaited  rushes;  but  there,  as 
in  most  parts  of  Ulster,  and  indeed  of  Ireland,  the 
fairies  are  said  to  wear  red,  not  green.  In  Antrim 
the  fairies,  like  their  Scotch  kinsfolk,  dress  in  green, 
but  even  there  are  often  said  to  have  red  or  sandy 
hair. 

The  Pechts  are  spoken  of  as  low,  stout  people, 
who  built  some  of  the  "  coves  "  in  the  forts.  An 
old  man,  living  in  the  townland  of  Drumcrow, 
Co.  Antrim,  showed  me  the  entrance  to  one  of 
these  artificial  caves,  and  gave  me  a  vivid  descrip- 
tion of  its  builders.  "  The  Pechts,"  he  said,  "  were 
low-set,  heavy-made  people,  broad  in  the  feet — so 
broad,"  he  added,  with  an  expressive  gesture, 
"  that  in  rain  they  could  lie  down  and  shelter 
themselves  under  their  feet."  He  spoke  of  them 
as  clad  in  skins,  while  an  old  woman  at  Armoy  said 
they  were  dressed  in  grey.  I  have  seldom  heard 
of  the  Pechts  beyond  the  confines  of  Antrim, 
although  an  old  man  in  Donegal  spoke  of  them  as 
short  people  with  large,  unwieldy  feet. 


28  ULSTER  FOLKLORE 

The  traditions  regarding  the  Danes  vary;  some- 
times they  are  spoken  of  as  a  tall  race,  sometimes 
as  a  short  race.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the 
tall  race  were  the  medieval  Danes,  while  in  the 
short  men  we  have  probably  a  reminiscence  of  an 
earlier  race. 

A  widespread  belief  exists  throughout  Ireland 
that  the  Danes  made  heather  beer,  and  that  the 
secret  perished  with  them.  According  to  an  old 
woman  at  the  foot  of  the  Mourne  Mountains,  the 
Danes  had  the  land  in  old  times,  but  at  last  they  were 
conquered,  and  there  remained  alive  only  a  father 
and  son.  When  pressed  to  disclose  how  the  heather 
beer  was  made,  the  father  said:  "  Kill  my  son,  and 
I  will  tell  you  our  secret  but  when  the  son  was 
slain,  he  cried:  "  Kill  me  also,  but  our  secret 
you  shall  never  know  1"  I  have  the  authority 
of  Mr.  MacRitchie  for  stating  that  a  similar  story 
is  known  in  Scotland  from  the  Shetlands  to 
the  Mull  of  Galloway,  but  there  it  is  told  of  the 
,  y  Picts. 

We  all  remember  Louis  Stevenson's  ballad  of 
heather  ale — how  the  son  was  cast  into  the  sea : 

"  And  there  on  the  cliff  stood  the  father, 
Last  of  the  dwarfish  men. 

"  True  was  the  word  I  told  you : 

Only  my  son  I  feared ; 
For  I  doubt  the  sapling  courage 

That  goes  without  the  beard. 
But  now  in  vain  is  the  torture, 

Fire  shall  never  avail ; 
Here  dies  in  my  bosom 

The  secret  of  heather  ale." 


ULSTER  FAIRIES,  DANES  AND  PECHTS  29 

The  secret  appears,  however,  to  have  been  pre- 
served for  many  centuries.  After  visiting  Islay  in 
1772,  the  Welsh  traveller  and  naturaHst,  Pennant, 
states  that  "  Ale  is  frequently  made  in  this  island 
from  the  tops  of  heath,  mixing  two- thirds  of  that 
plant  with  one  of  malt."* 

Probably  these  islanders  were  descendants  of  the 
Picts  or  Pechts. 

I  do  not  know  if  there  is  any  record  of  the 
making  of  heather  beer  in  Ireland  in  later  times, 
but  I  heard  the  story  of  the  lost  secret  in  Down, 
in  Kerry,  in  Donegal,  in  Antrim,  and  everywhere 
the  father  and  the  son  were  the  last  of  the  Danes. 
Does  not  this  point  to  the  Irish  Danes  being  a 
kindred  race  to  the  Picts  ?  If  we  may  be  allowed 
to  hold  that  the  Tuatha  de  Danann  are  not  alto- 
gether mythical,  I  should  be  inclined  to  believe  that 
they  are  the  short  Danes  of  the  Irish  peasantry, 
who  built  the  forts  and  souterrains.  I  visited  some 
Danes'  graves  near  Ballygilbert,  in  Co.  Antrim;  it 
appeared  to  me  that  there  were  indications  of  a 
stone  circle,  the  principal  tomb  was  in  the  centre, 
the  walls  built  without  mortar,  and  I  was  told  that 
formerly  it  had  been  roofed  in  with  a  flat  stone. 
Various  ridges  were  pointed  out  to  me  as  marking 
the  small  fields  of  these  early  people.  I  was  also 
shown  their  houses,  built,  hke  the  graves,  without 
mortar.    Within  living  memory  these  old  struc- 

*  "  Voyage  to  the  Hebrides  in  1772,"  p.  229.  For  a  full 
discussion  of  the  subject,  see  Mr.  Mac  Ritchie's  "  Memories  of 
the  Picts,"  in  the  Scottish  Antiquary  for  1900. 


30 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


tures  were  much  more  perfect  than  at  present,  many 
of  them  having  the  characteristic  flat  slab  as  a  roof ; 
but  fences  were  needed,  and  the  Danes'  houses 
offered  a  convenient  and  tempting  supply  of  stones. 
In  the  same  neighbourhood  I  was  shown  a  building 
of  uncemented  stone  with  flat  slabs  for  the  roof, 
and  was  told  it  had  been  built  by  the  fairies. 

In  the  same  district  I  visited  a  fine  souterrain  at 
the  foot  of  Knockdhu,  which  was  afterwards  fully 


explored  and  measured  by  Mrs.  Hobson.  She 
describes  it  as  "a  souterrain  containing  six  cham- 
bers, with  a  length  of  eighty-seven  feet  exclusive  of 
a  flooded  chamber."*  Mrs.  Hobson  photographed 
the  entrance  to  this  souterrain,  which  is  reproduced 
in  Plate  VII. 

From  the  foregoing  traditions  it  will  be  seen  that 

*  See  "  Some  Ulster  Souterrains,"  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Anthropological  Institute,  vol.  xxxix.,  January- June,  1909. 
The  plan  was  drawn  by  Miss  Florence  Hobson  from  the 
measurements  made  by  Mrs.  Hobson. 


ULSTER  FAIRIES,  DANES  AND  PECHTS  31 


Pechts,  Danes,  and  fairies  are  all  associated  with  the 
remains  of  primitive  man.  I  may  add  that  the 
small  pipes  sometimes  turned  up  by  the  plough  are 
called  in  different  locaUties  Danes',  Pechts',  or 
fairies'  pipes. 

The  peasantry  regard  the  Pechts  and  the  Danes 
as  thoroughly  human;  with  the  fairies  it  is  other- 
wise. They  are  unearthly  beings,  fallen  angels  with 
supernatural  powers;  but,  while  quick  to  revenge  an 
injury  or  a  slight,  on  the  whole  friendly  to  mankind. 
"  It  was  better  for  the  country  before  they  went 
away,"  was  the  remark  made  to  me  by  an  old 
woman  from  Garvagh,  Co.  Derry,  and  I  have 
heard  the  same  sentiment  expressed  by  others. 
They  are  always  spoken  of  with  much  respect,  and 
are  often  called  the  "  gentry  "  or  the  "  gentle  folk." 

We  hear  of  fairy  men,  fairy  women,  and  fairy 
children.  They  may  intermarry  with  mortals,  and 
an  old  woman  told  me  she  had  seen  a  fairy's  funeral 
Now,  do  these  stories  give  us  only  a  materialistic 
view  of  the  spirit  world  held  by  early  man,  or  can 
we  also  trace  in  them  a  reminiscence  of  a  pre-Celtic 
race  of  small  stature  ?  The  respect  paid  to  the 
fairy  thorn  is  no  doubt  a  survival  of  tree-worship, 
and  in  the  banshee  we  have  a  weird  being  who  has 
little  in  common  with  mortal  woman.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  fairies  are  more  often  connected  with  the 
artificial  forts  and  souterrains  than  with  natural 
hills  and  caves.  These  forts  and  souterrains,  as  we 
have  seen,  are  also  the  habitations  of  Danes  and 
Pechts.    They  are  sacred  spots — to  injure  them  is 


32 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


to  court  misfortune;  but  I  have  not  heard  them 
spoken  of  as  sepulchres. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  I  have  rarely,  if 
ever,  found  among  the  peasantry  any  tradition  of 
fairies  a  few  inches  in  height.  In  one  of  the  tales 
in  "  Silva  GadeHca  "  (xiv.)  we  read,  however,  of 
the  lupracan  being  so  small  that  the  close-cropped 
grass  of  the  green  reached  to  the  thigh  of  their 
poet,  and  the  prize  feat  of  their  great  champion  was 
the  hewing  down  of  a  thistle  at  a  single  stroke. 
Such  a  race  could  not  have  built  the  souterrains, 
and  probably  owe  their  origin  to  the  imagination  of 
the  medieval  story-teller.  The  lupracan  were  not, 
however,  always  of  such  diminutive  size.  In  a  note 
to  this  story  Mr.  Standish  H.  O 'Grady  quotes  an 
old  Irish  manuscript*  in  which  a  distinctly  human 
origin  is  ascribed  to  these  luchorpan  or  wee-bodies. 
"  Ham,  therefore,  was  the  first  that  was  cursed 
after  the  Deluge,  and  from  him  sprang  the  wee- 
bodies  (pygmies),  fomores,  *  goatheads  '  (satyrs), 
and  every  other  deformed  shape  that  human  beings 
wear.'*  The  old  writer  goes  on  to  tell  us  that  this 
was  the  origin  of  these  monstrosities,  "  which  are 
not,  as  the  Gael  relate,  of  Cain's  seed,  for  of  his 
seed  nothing  survived  the  Flood. "f 

It  is  true  that  in  this  passage  the  lupracan  or 
wee-bodies  are  associated  with  goatheads;  but 
whether  these  are  purely  fabulous  beings,  or  point 
to  an  early  race  whose  features  were  supposed  to 

*  RawL,  486,  f.  49,  2. 

t  "  Silva  Gadelica  "  (translation  and  notes),  pp.  563,  564. 


ULSTER  FAIRIES,  DANES  AND  PECHTS  33 


resemble  those  of  goats,  or  who  perhaps  stood  in 
totem  relationship  to  goats,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  say.  What  we  have  here  are  two  medieval 
traditions,  the  one  stating  that  the  pygmies  are 
descendants  of  Cain,  the  other  classing  them  among 
the  descendants  of  Ham.  Does  the  latter  contain 
a  germ  of  truth,  and  is  it  possible  that  at  one  time 
a  people  resembling  the  pygmies  of  Central  Africa 
inhabited  these  islands  ? 

Those  who  have  visited  the  African  dwarfs  in 
their  own  haunts  have  been  struck  by  the  resem- 
blance between  their  habits  and  those  ascribed  to 
the  northern  fairies,  elves,  and  trolls. 

Sir  Harry  Johnston  states  that  anyone  who  has 
seen  much  of  the  merry,  impish  ways  of  the  Central 
African  pygmies  "  cannot  but  be  struck  by  their 
singular  resemblance  in  character  to  the  elves  and 
gnomes  and  sprites  of  our  nursery  stories."  He 
warns  us,  however,  against  reckless  theorizing,  and 
says:  "  It  may  be  too  much  to  assume  that  the 
negro  species  ever  inhabited  Europe,"  but  adds 
that  undoubtedly  to  his  thinking  "  most  fair}- 
myths  arose  from  the  contemplation  of  the  mys- 
terious habits  of  dwarf  troglodyte  races  lingering 
on  still  in  the  crannies,  caverns,  forests,  and  moun- 
tains of  Europe  after  the  invasion  of  neolithic 
man."*  Captain  Burroughs  refers  to  the  stories  of 
these  mannikins  to  be  found  in  all  countries,  and 
adds  that  "  it  was  of  the  highest  interest  to  find 
some  of  them  in  their  primitive  and  aboriginal 

*  "  Uganda  Protectorate,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  516,  517. 

3 


34 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


state."*  He  speaks  of  the  red  and  black  Akka, 
and  Sir  Harry  Johnston  also  describes  the  two 
types  of  pygmy,  one  being  of  a  reddish-yellow 
colour,  the  othei'  as  black  as  the  ordinary  negro. 
In  the  yellow-skinned  type  there  is  a  tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  head  hair  to  be  reddish,  more  especi- 
ally over  the  frontal  part  of  the  head.  The  hair  is 
never  absolutely  black — it  varies  in  colour  between 
greyish-greenish-brown,  and  reddish. f  We  have 
seen  how  Irish  fairies  and  Danes  have  red  hair,  but 
I  should  infer  of  a  brighter  hue  than  these  African 
dwarfs.  The  average  height  of  the  pygmy  man  is 
four  feet  nine  inches,  of  the  pygmy  woman  four  feet 
six  inches, t  and  although  we  cannot  measure  fairies, 
I  think  the  Ulster  expression,  a  lump  of  a  boy  or 
girl,"  would  correspond  with  this  height.  I  do  not 
know  the  size  of  the  fairy's  foot,  but,  as  we  have 
seen,  both  Danes  and  Pechts  have  large  feet,  and 
so  has  the  African  pygmy  .§  One  of  the  great 
marks  of  the  fairies  is  their  vanishing  and  leaving 
no  trace  behind,  and  Sir  Harry  Johnston  speaks  of 
the  baboon-like  adroitness  of  the  African  dwarfs  in 
making  themselves  invisible  in  squatting  im- 
mobility.!*) 

Dr.  Robertson  Smith  has  shown  that  "  primitive 
man  has  to  contend  not  only  with  material  diffi- 
culties, but  with  the  superstitious  terror  of  the 
unknown,  paralyzing  his  energies  and  forbidding 

*  "  Land  of  the  Pygmies,"  pp.  173,  174. 
t  "Uganda  Protectorate,"  vol.  ii.    See  pp.  527,  530;  also 
coloured  frontispiece. 

X  **  Uganda  Protectorate,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  532. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  532.  II  Ibid.,  p.  513. 


ULSTER  FAIRIES,  DANES  AND  PECHTS  35 


him  freely  to  put  forth  his  strength  to  subdue 
nature  to  his  use."*  In  speaking  of  the  Arabian 
"  jinn/' he  states"  that  even  in  modern  accounts  y^ww 
and  various  kinds  of  animals  are  closely  associated , 
while  in  the  older  kgends  they  are  practically 
identified, "t  and  he  adds  that  the  stories  point 
distinctly  to  haunted  spots  being  the  places  where 
evil  beasts  walk  by  night. "J  He  also  shows  that 
totems  or  friendly  demoniac  beings  rapidly  develop 
into  gods  when  men  rise  above  pure  savagery ,§ 
and  he  cites  the  ancestral  god  of  Baalbek,  who  was 
worshipped  under  the  form  of  a  lion.|| 

If  we  see,  then,  that  early  man,  terrified  by  the 
wild  beasts,  whether  lions  or  reptiles,  ascribed  to 
them  superhuman  powers,  ma}^  not  a  similar  mode 
of  thought  have  caused  one  race  to  invest  with 
supernatural  attributes  another  race,  strangers  to 
them,  and  possibl}'  of  inferior  mental  development  ? 
The  big  negro  is  often  afraid  to  withhold  his 
banana  from  the  p^^gmy,  and  the  dwarfish  Lapps 
and  Finns  have  long  been  regarded  as  powerful 
sorcerers  by  their  more  civilized  neighbours .  I  n  like 
manner  the  little  woman,  inhabiting  her  under- 
ground dwelling  at  the  foot  of  the  sacred  thorn- 
bush,  might  well  be  looked  upon  as  an  uncanny 
being,  and  in  after-ages  popular  imagination  might 
transform  her  into  the  weird  banshee,  the  woman 
of  the  fairy  mound,  whose  wailing  cry  betokens 
death  and  disaster. 

*  "  The  Religion  of  the  Semites,"  p.  115. 

t  Ibid.,  pp.  122,  123.  X  Ibid.,  p.  123. 

§  Ibid.,  note  b,  p.  424.  ||  Ibid.,  p.  425. 


Folklore  connected  with  Ulster  Raths  and 
Souterrains  * 


S  the  title  of  this  paper  I  have  given"  Folklore 


^/j^  connected  with  Ulster  Raths  and  Souter- 
rains," but  if  I  used  the  language  of  the  country- 
people  I  should  speak,  not  of  raths  and  souterrains, 
but  of  forths  and  coves.  In  these  coves  it  is 
believed  the  fairies  dwell,  and  here  they  keep  as 
prisoners  women,  children,  even  men.  These  sub- 
terranean dwellings  may  not  be  known  to  mortals. 
I  heard  of  a  lad  being  kept  for  several  days  in  the 
fort  of  the  Shimna,  near  Newcastle,  Co.  Down,  and 
I  was  told  that  the  great  rath  at  Downpatrick  had 
been  a  very  gentle  place,  meaning  one  inhabited 
by  fairies.  In  neither  of  these  forts  is  there,  as 
far  as  is  known,  a  souterrain,  nor  is  there  one  in  the 
old  fort  at  Antrim,  a  typical  rath.  In  many 
cases  we  do  find  the  entrance  to  a  souterrain  is  in 
a  fort.  I  may  mention  Ballymagreehan  Fort,  the 
stone  fort  near  Altnadua  Lough  in  Co.  Down,  and 
Crocknabroom,  near  Ballycastle.  Although  not  in 
Ulster,  I  may  also  refer  to  a  fine  example  of  a  rath 
with  a  souterrain  in  it,  the  Mote  of  Greenmount, 

*  Read  before  the  Archaeological  Section  of  the  Belfast 
Naturalists'  Field  Club,  February  12,  1908. 


V 


ULSTER  RATHS  AND  SOUTERRAINS  37 


described  by  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Leslie  in  his  "  History 
of  Kilsaran,  Co.  Louth."* 

Many  souterrains  have  no  fort  above  them. 
Take,  for  example,  the  one  near  Scollogstown,  Co. 
Down,  with  its  numerous  bridges,  which  it  would 
be  decidedly  unpleasant  to  face  if  little  men  were 
behind  them  shooting  arrows.  Also  Cloughnabrick 
Cave,  near  Ballycastle,  which  is  not  built  with  stones, 
but  hollowed  out  of  the  basaltic  rock. 

Fairies  are  not  the  only  race  connected  with 
raths  and  souterrains.  We  have  two  others,  Danes 
and  Pechts.  It  is  generally  believed  that  the  Danes 
built  the  forts ;  hence  we  find  many  of  them  called 
"  Danes'  forts."  I  will  describe  one  named  from 
the  townland  in  which  it  is  situated,  Ballycairn 
Fort.  It  stands  on  a  high  bank  overlooking  the 
Bann,  about  a  mile  north  of  Coleraine.  The  entire 
height  is  about  twenty-six  feet;  at  perhaps  twelve 
feet  from  the  ground  a  flat  platform  is  reached,  and 
at  one  end  of  this  the  upper  part  of  the  fort  rises  in 
a  circular  form  for  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  feet. 
I  was  told  the  Danes  who  built  it  were  short,  stout 
people,  and  as  they  had  no  wheelbarrows  they 
carried  the  earth  in  their  leathern  aprons.  Here 
we  seem  to  come  in  contact  with  a  very  primitive 
people,  probably  wearing  the  skins  of  wild  animals, 
and  who  are  said,  like  the  fairies,  to  have  sandy  or 
red  hair. 

*  Pp.  12-20.  Several  sections  of  this  rath  are  given;  also 
a  view  showing  Greenmount  in  1748,  and  a  plan  of  the  same 
date — both  from  Wright's  "  Louthiana,"  published  in  that 
year. 


38 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


As  far  as  is  known  no  souterrain  exists  in  Bally- 
cairn  Fort,  although  I  was  shown  a  stone  at  the 
side  which  my  guide  said  might  be  the  entrance 
to  a  "  cove  it  appeared  to  me  to  be  simply  a 
piece  of  rock  appearing  above  the  sod,  or  possibly  a 
boulder.  There  is  a  tradition  of  fairies  living  in 
this  fort,  as  it  is  said  that  in  long  ago  "  times  the 
farmers  used  to  threaten  their  boys  if  they  were 
not  doing  right,  that  the  fairies  would  come  out  of 
the  fort  and  carry  them  away. 

Many  of  the  souterrains  in  this  part  of  the  world 
are  now  blocked  up,  and  of  some  the  entrance  is 
no  longer  known,  although  they  have  been  explored 
within  living  memory;  others  have  been  destroyed. 
There  was  a  souterrain  a  short  distance  from  Bally- 
cairn  Fort  in  a  field  opposite  to  Cranogh  National 
School.  The  master  of  this  school  told  me  that 
fifteen  or  sixteen  years  ago  these  underground 
buildings  existed,  but  now  they  have  been  all 
quarried  away.  He  also  mentioned  a  tradition 
that  there  was  a  subterranean  passage  under  the 
Bann. 

On  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river,  near  Port- 
stewart,  I  heard  of  several  of  these  underground 
dwellings. 

One  was  on  the  land  of  an  old  farmer  eighty-four 
years  of  age.  He  told  me  he  had  been  in  this  cave, 
but  no  one  could  get  in  now.  It  had  been  hollowed 
out  by  man,  but  the  walls  were  not  built  of  stones. 
There  were  several  rooms;  you  dropped  from  one 
to  another  through  a  narrow  hole.    The  rooms  were 


ULSTER  RATHS  AND  SOUTERRALNS  39 


large,  but  low  in  the  roof;  in  one  of  them  a  quantity 
of  limpet-shells  were  found.  He  added  that  some 
said  that  the  Danes  had  built  these  caves,  others 
that  the  clans  made  them  as  places  of  refuge.  He 
added  that  the  Danes  of  those  days  had  sandy  hair 
and  were  short  people;  not  like  the  sturdy  Danes 
of  the  present  day.  These  are  well  known  to  the 
seafaring  population  of  Ulster,  and  we  sometimes 
find  the  old  Danes  spoken  of  as  a  tall,  fair  race; 
probably  this  is  a  true  description  of  the  medieval 
sea-rovers.  The  short  Danes  I  should  be  inclined 
to  identify  with  the  Tuatha  de  Danann,  and  I 
believe  that,  notwithstanding  the  magical  portents 
which  abound  in  the  tales  that  have  come  down 
to  us,  we  have  here  a  very  early  people  who  had 
made  some  progress  in  the  arts. 

This  double  use  of  the  name  Dane  seems  at  times 
to  have  perplexed  the  older  writers.  The  Rev. 
WilHam  Hamilton,  in  his  "  Letters  on  the  North- 
East  Coast  of  Antrim,"  published  towards  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  gives  a  description  of 
the  coal-mines  of  Ballycastle*  and  of  the  very 
ancient  galleries,  with  the  pillars,  left  by  the  pre- 
historic miners,  supporting  the  roof,  which  had  been 
discovered  some  twelve  years  before  he  wrote. 
He  tells  us  that  the  people  of  the  place  ascribed 
them  to  the  Danes,  but  argues  that  these  were 
never  peaceable  possessors  of  Ireland,  and  that  it  is 
not  "  to  the  tumultuary  and  barbarous  armies  of 
the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  .  .  .  we  are  to 
♦  Part  I.,  Letter  IV.,  Edition  1822. 


40 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


attribute  the  slow  and  toilsome  operations  of  peace." 
He  mentions  how  the  stalactite  pillars  found  in 
these  galleries  marked  their  antiquity,  and  ascribes 
them  to  some  period  prior  to  the  eighth  century, 
"  when  Ireland  enjoyed  a  considerable  share  of 
civilization." 

In  the  same  way  John  Windele,  writing  in  the 
Ulster  Journal  of  Archceology  for  1862,  speaks  of 
the  mines  in  Waterford  having  been  worked  by  the 
ancient  inhabitants,  and  adds:  "  One  almost  insu- 
lated promontory  is  perforated  like  a  rabbit-burrow, 
and  is  known  as  the  '  Danes'  Island,'  the  peasantry 
attributing  these  ancient  mines,  like  all  other  relics 
of  remote  civilisation,  to  the  Danes."* 

From  my  own  experience  I  can  corroborate  this 
statement.  An  artificial  island  in  Lough  Sessiagh, 
in  Co.  Donegal,  was  shown  to  me  as  the  work  of  the 
Danes.  The  forts  on  Horn  Head  and  at  Glenties 
are  also  ascribed  to  them. 

The  use  of  the  souterrains  was  not  confined  to 
prehistoric  times.  The  one  at  Greenmount  appears 
to  have  been  inhabited  by  the  medieval  Danes,  as 
a  Runic  inscription,  engraved  on  a  plate  of  bronze, 
has  been  discovered  in  it,  the  only  one  as  yet  found 
in  Ireland.  In  131 7  every  man  dwelling  in  an 
ooan,  or  caher's  souterrain,  was  summoned  to  join 
the  army  of  Domched  O ' Brian  .f  The  French 
traveller,  Jorevin  de  Rocheford,  speaks  of  sub- 

*  Ulster  Journal  of  ArchcBology,  1861-62,  p.  212. 

t  See  "  Prehistoric  Stone  Forts  of  Northern  Clare,"  by- 
Thomas  J.  Westropp,  M.A.,  M.R.I. A.  [Journal  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Ireland,  vol.  vi.,  fifth  series,  1896). 


ULSTER  RATHS  AND  SOUTERRAINS  41 


terranean  vaults  where  the  peasants  assembled  to 
hear  Mass,*  and  in  still  more  recent  times  the 
smuggler  and  the  distiller  of  illicit  whisky  found 
them  convenient  places  of  concealment. 

In  a  former  paper  I  referred  to  the  lost  secret 
of  the  heather  beer,  and  the  tragic  ending  of  the 
last  of  the  Danes  .f  As  the  story  was  told  me  near 
Ballycairn  Fort,  the  father  said:  "  Give  my  son  the 
first  lilt  of  the  rope,  and  I  will  reveal  our  secret  "; 
but  when  the  son  was  dead  the  father  cried: Slay 
me  also,  for  none  shall  ever  know  how  the  heather 
beer  was  brewed  !" 

In  a  paper  read  to  this  club  Mr.  McKeanJ  men- 
tioned that  this  story  had  been  told  to  him  in  Kerry, 
where  I,  too,  heard  it.  It  appears  to  be  almost 
universal  in  Ulster.  When  visiting  Navan  Fort, 
the  ancient  Emania,  near  Armagh,  I  was  told  that 
on  this  fort  the  Danes  made  heather  beer.  I  asked 
if  any  heather  grew  in  the  neighbourhood,  but  the 
answer  was,  not  now.  There  are  variants  of  the 
tale.  In  some  parts  of  Donegal  it  is  wine,  not 
beer,  that  the  Danes  are  said  to  have  made.  As 
a  rule  the  slaughter  is  taken  for  granted,  and  very 
little  said  about  it;  but  a  farmer  in  Co.  Antrim 
gave  me  a  full  account  of  the  massacre,  how  at 
a  great  feast  a  Roman  Catholic  sat  beside  each 

*  See  "  Illustrations  of  Irish  History,"  by  C.  Litton  Falkiner. 
p.  416.  He  considers  it  probable  that  Jorcvin  de  Rochefort 
was  Albert  Jouvin  de  Rochefort,  Tresorier  de  France. 

t  See  Ulster  Fairies,  Danes  and  Pechts,  p.  28. 

X  See  Annual  Report  of  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club, 
1907-08,  "A  Holiday  Trip  to  West  Kerry,"  p-  73. 


42 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


Dane,  and  at  a  given  signal  plunged  his  dirk  into 
his  neighbour's  side,  until  only  one  man  and  his  son 
remained  alive;  then  followed  the  usual  sequel. 

These  short  Danes  are  said  to  have  had  large 
feet,  and  one  man  described  their  arms  as  so  long 
that  they  could  pick  anything  off  the  ground 
without  stooping.  Long  arms  are  also  a  charac- 
teristic of  the  traditional  dwarf  of  Japan,  prob- 
ably an  ancestor  of  the  Aino.*  As  I  mentioned  in 
a  previous  paper,t  large  feet  are  also  a  traditional 
characteristic  of  the  Pechts,  who  are  generally 
said  to  have  been  clad  in  skins  or  in  grey  clothes. 
They  have  occasionally  superhuman  attributes 
ascribed  to  them.  The  same  man  who  spoke  of  the 
long  arms  of  the  Danes  said  the  Pechts  could  creep 
through  keyholes — they  were  like  "  speerits  " — and 
he  evidently  regarded  both  them  and  the  fairies  as 
evil  spirits.  At  the  same  time  he  said  they  would 
thresh  corn  or  work  for  a  man,  but  if  they  were 
given  food,  they  would  be  offended,  and  go  away. 

I  think  the  close  connection  between  Danes, 
Pechts,  and  fairies  will  be  apparent  to  all,  although 
the  fairy  has  more  supernatural  characteristics, 
and  in  the  banshee  assumes  a  very  weird  form. 
Lady  Fanshawe  has  described  the  apparition  she 
saw  when  staying,  in  1649,  with  the  Lady  Honora 
O'Brien,  as  a  woman  in  white,  with  red  hair  and 
ghastly  complexion,  who  thrice  cried  "  Ahone  !" 

*  See  Mr.  David  MacRitchie's  "  Northern  Trolls,"  read  at 
the  Folklore  Congress,  Chicago,  1893,  p.  12. 
t  See  Ulster  Fairies,  Danes  and  Pechts,  p.  27. 


ULSTER  RATHS  AND  SOUTERRAINS 


43 


and  vanished  with  a  sigh  more  Hke  wind  than 
breath.  This  was  apparently  the  ghost  of  a  mur- 
dered woman,  who  was  said  to  appear  when  any 
of  the  family  died,  and  that  night  a  cousin  of  their 
hostess  had  passed  away.*  Similar  stories,  as  we 
all  know,  exist  at  the  present  day. 

Except  in  the  case  of  the  banshee,  fairies  rarely 
partake  of  the  nature  of  ghosts,  and  I  should  note 
that  in  her  description  of  the  apparition  Lady 
Fanshawe  does  not  use  the  word  "  banshee."  In 
many  respects  the  fairies  are  akin  to  mortals — there 
are  fairy  men,  fairy  women,  and  fairy  children. 
Fairies  often  live  under  bushes,  and  I  was  told  in 
Co.  Armagh  that  it  would  be  a  very  serious  matter 
to  cut  down  a  "  lone  "  thorn-bush;  those  growing 
in  rows  were  evidently  less  sacred.  Did  the  thorn- 
bush  hide  the  entrance  to  the  subterranean 
dwelling  ? 

The  fairies  are  quick  to  revenge  an  injury  or  an 
encroachment  on  their  territory.  A  fire  which 
occurred  at  Dunree  on  Lough  Swilly  was  attributed 
to  the  fairies,  who  were  supposed  to  be  angry  be- 
cause the  military  had  carried  the  works  of  their 
modern  fort  too  near  the  fairy  rock.  In  some 
places  the  raths  have  been  cultivated,  but,  as  a 
rule,  this  is  looked  upon  as  very  unlucky,  and  sure 
to  bring  dire  misfortune  on  the  man  who  attempts 
it.  On  the  other  hand,  there  appears  to  be  no 
objection  to  growing  crops  on  the  top  of  a  souter- 

♦  See  "  Memoirs  of  Anne,  Lady  Fanshawe,"  edited  by 
Herbert  C.  Fanshawe,  pp.  57-59. 


44 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


rain.  Many  are,  it  is  true,  afraid  to  enter  these 
dark  abodes,  and  others  consider  it  unwise  to 
carry  anything  out  of  them.  I  have  never  heard 
them  spoken  of  as  tombs,  and  the  fairies  are  re- 
garded, not  as  ghosts,  but  as  fallen  angels,  to 
whom  no  Church  holds  out  a  hope  of  salvation. 
Only  in  one  instance  did  a  woman  tell  me  that 
as  fairies  were  good  to  the  poor,  she  thought 
there  would  be  hope  for  them  hereafter.  The 
Irish  fairy  remains  a  pagan;  the  ancient  well  of 
pre-Christian  days  may  be  consecrated  to  the 
Christian  saint,  and  patterns  held  beside  it,  but 
no  pious  pilgrim  prays  on  the  rath  or  below  the 
fairy  rock. 

We  may  now  ask  ourselves  the  meaning  of  these 
legends.  The  rath  and  souterrain  are  undoubtedly 
the  work  of  primitive  man,  yet  here  we  have  the 
Sidh,  inhabited  by  the  fairy  and  the  Tuatha  de 
Danann.  In  the  *'  Colloquy  of  the  Ancients  we 
are  told  it  was  out  of  a  Sidh,  Finn's  chief  musician, 
the  dwarf  Cnu  deiriol  came,  and  from  another 
Sidh  came  Blathnait,  whom  the  small  man  es- 
poused. It  was  fairy  music  which  Cnu  taught  to 
the  musicians  of  the  Fianna.  It  was  out  of  a 
Sidh  in  the  south  that  Cas  corach,  son  of  the  Olave 
of  the  Tuatha  de  Danann,  came  to  the  King  of 
Uhdia.t 

In  Derrick's     Image  of  Ireland,"  written  in 

*  Translated  by  Mr.  S.  H.  O'Grady  in  "  Silva  Gadelica," 
volume  with  translation?  and  notes.  (For  Cnu  and  Blathnait, 
see  pp.  115-117.)  t  Ibid.,  pp.  187,  188. 


ULSTER  RATHS  AND  SOUTERRAINS  45 


1578,  and  published  in  1581,  the  Olympian  gods 
call  upon  certain  little  mountain  gods,  whom  I 
should  be  incHned  to  identify  with  the  fairies,  to 
come  to  their  aid : 

**  Let  therefore  little  Mountain  Gods 
A  troupe  (as  thei  maie  spare) 
Of  breechlesse  men  at  all  assaies, 
Both  leauvie  and  prepare 
With  mantelles  down  unto  the  shoe 
To  lappe  them  in  by  night; 
With  speares  and  swordes  and  little  dartcs 
To  shield  them  from  despight."* 

May  I,  in  conclusion,  express  my  belief  that  in 
the  traditions  of  fairies,  Danes,  and  Pechts  the 
memory  is  preserved  of  an  early  race  or  races  of 
short  stature,  but  of  considerable  strength,  who 
built  underground  dwellings,  and  had  some  skill 
in  music  and  in  other  arts  ?  They  appear  to  have 
been  spread  over  a  great  part  of  Europe.  It  is 
possible  that,  as  larger  races  advanced,  these  small 
people  were  driven  southwards  to  the  mountains 
of  Switzerland,  westward  towards  the  Atlantic, 
and  northward  to  Lapland,  where  their  descendants 
may  still  be  found.  No  doubt  there  is  a  large 
supernatural  element,  especially  in  the  stories  of 
the  fairies;  but  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  tales 
of  witches  in  the  seventeenth  century.  The  witch 
was  undoubtedly  human,  yet  she  was  believed,  and 
sometimes  believed  herself,  to  possess  superhuman 
powers,  and  to  be  in  communication  with  un- 

*  P.  38,  Edinburgh,  1883;  edited  by  John  SmaU,  M.A., 
F. S.A.Scot. 


46 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


earthly  beings.  We  must  also  remember  the  wide- 
spread belief  in  local  spirits  or  gods,  and  a  taller 
race  of  invaders  might  well  fear  the  magic  of  an 
earlier  people  long  settled  in  the  country,  even  if 
the  latter  were  inferior  in  bodily  and  mental 
characteristics. 


Traditions  of  Dwarf  Races  in  Ireland  and 
in  Switzerland  * 


IN  the  traditions  alike  of  Switzerland  and  of 
Ireland  we  hear  of  a  dwarfish  people,  dwellers 
in  mountain  caves  or  in  artificial  sou  terrains,  who 
are  gifted  with  magical  powers.  The  quaint  figure 
of  the  Swiss  dwarf  with  his  peaked  cap  has  been 
made  famiHar  to  us  by  the  carvings  of  the  peas- 
antry, and  in  Antrim  and  Donegal  the  Irish  fairy 
is  said  to  wear  a  peaked  cap  of  plaited  rushes. 
With  rushes  he  also  makes  a  covering  for  his 
feet.t 

Closely  allied  to  the  fairy  is  the  Grogach,  with 
his  large  head  and  soft  body,  who  appears  to  have 
no  bones  as  he  comes  tumbling  down  the  hills. 
These  Grogachs  I  heard  of  in  North-East  Antrim, 

*  Reprinted  from  the  Antiquary,  October,  1909. 

t  May  it  not  be  that  Cinderella's  glass  shoe  was  really  green 
and  derived  its  name  from  the  Irish  word  glas,  denoting  that 
colour,  which  is  familiar  to  us  in  place  -names  ?  I  make  this 
conjecture  with  difl&dence.  I  know  the  usual  explanation  is 
that  the  shoe  was  made  of  a  kind  of  fur  called  in  Old  French 
vair,  and  that  a  transcriber  changed  this  word  into  verre. 
Miss  Cox,  in  her  "  Cinderella,"  mentions  that  she  had  only 
found  six  instances  of  a  glass  shoe.  As  Littre  says  in  the 
article  on  vair  in  his  Dictionary,  a  Soulier  de  verre  is  absurd 
A  fur  slipper,  however,  does  not  appear  very  suitable  for  a  ball. 

47 


48 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


and  in  them,  as  in  the  fairies,  the  supernatural 
characteristics  preponderate.  I  was  told  that  both 
were  full  of  magic,  and  had  come  from  Egypt. 

We  have,  however,  two  other  small  races  who 
are  usually  regarded  by  the  peasantry  as  strictly 
human,  the  Pechts  and  the  Danes.*  Two  tra- 
ditions regarding  Danes  exist:  sometimes  we  hear 
of  tall  Danes,  doubtless  the  medieval  sea-rovers; 
sometimes  of  small  Danes,  the  builders  of  many  of 
the  raths  and  souterrains. 

While  the  Danes  are  the  great  builders  through- 
out Ireland,  some  of  the  raths  and  souterrains, 
especially  those  in  North-East  Antrim,  are  said 
to  have  been  made  by  the  Pechts.  Last  summer  I 
visited  one  of  these,  the  cave  of  Finn  McCoul.  It 
is  a  souterrain  situated  in  Glenshesk,  about  three 
miles  from  Ballycastle.  The  ground  above  it  is 
perfectly  flat,  no  fort  or  any  inequality  to  mark  the 
spot;  indeed,  the  farmer  who  kindly  opened  it  for 
me  had  at  first  a  difficulty  in  knowing  in  what  part 
of  the  field  to  dig,  as  the  entrance  had  been  covered. 
On  my  second  visit,  however,  I  found  he  had  dis- 
covered the  spot.  Entering  a  narrow  passage,  I 
crept  through  an  opening  from  one  and  a  half  to 
two  feet  high,  and  found  myself  in  a  narrow 
chamber  eight  or  nine  feet  long  and  little  over 
four  feet  in  height.  The  roof  was  formed  of  large 
flat  slabs,  which  I  was  told  were  whinstone  (basalt). 
At  the  opposite  end  of  this  chamber  there  was 
another  narrow  opening,  leading,  I  presume,  to 

*  See  Ulster  Fairies,  Danes  and  Pechts,  p.-  27  et  seq. 


Platk  IX. 


GREY    MANS    PATH.     FAIR  HEAD. 


[R.  Welch,  Photo. 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES  49 


a  passage.  I  did  not,  however,  venture  farther; 
but  I  understand  this  artificial  cave  extends  for 
about  twenty  perches  underground,  and  has  several 
chambers. 

I  was  told  that  this  cave  was  the  hiding-place 
of  Finn  McCoul.  His  garden  was  pointed  out  to  me 
on  rising  ground  at  some  little  distance,  and  I  was 
also  informed  that  about  fifty  years  ago  his  castle 
stood  on  the  hill;  but  nothing  now  remains  of  it, 
the  stones  having  been  used  when  roads  were  made. 

The  following  story  was  related  to  me  on  the 
spot :  A  Scotch  giant  came  over  to  fight  Finn 
McCoul,  but  was  conquered  and  slain.  To  cele- 
brate this  victory  Finn  invited  the  Grey  Man  of 
the  Path  to  a  feast;  but  as  hares  and  rabbits  would 
have  been  too  small  to  furnish  a  repast  for  this 
giant,  Finn  took  his  dog  and  went  out  to  hunt  red 
deer.  They  were  unsuccessful,  and  in  anger  he 
slew  his  dog  Brown,*  which  afterwards  caused  him 
much  sorrow. 

In  the  Grey  Man  of  the  Path  we  have,  doubtless, 
a  purely  mythical  character,  an  impersonation  of 
the  mists  which  gather  round  Benmore,t  while 

*  This  is,  no  doubt,  a  corruption  of  Bran. 

t  The  Grey  Man's  Path  is  a  fissure  on  the  face  of  Benmore 
or  Fair  Head,  by  which  a  good  climber  can  ascend  the  cUff .  It 
has  been  suggested  that  this  Grey  Man  is  one  of  the  old  gods, 
possibly  Manannan,  the  Irish  sea-god.  In  the  Ulster  Journal 
of  Archc£ology  for  1858,  vol.  vi.,  p.  358,  there  is  an  account 
given  of  the  Grey  Man  appearing  near  the  mouth  of  the  Bush 
River  to  two  youths,  who  believed  they  would  have  seen  his 
cloven  foot  had  he  not  been  standing  in  the  water.  They  had 
at  first  mistaken  the  apparition  for  an  ordinary  man. 

4 


50 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


Finn  McCoul,  or  MacCumaill,  is  one  of  Ireland's 
greatest  traditional  heroes.  According  to  a  well- 
known  legend,  he  was  a  giant,  and  united  Scotland 
and  Ireland  by  a  stupendous  mole,  of  which  the 
cave  at  Staffa  and  the  Giant's  Causeway  are  the 
two  remaining  fragments.  In  Glenshesk  he  is 
only  a  tall  man,  between  seven  and  eight  feet  in 
height.  Sometimes  he  is  said  to  have  been  chief 
of  the  Pechts;  sometimes  he  is  spoken  of  as  their 
master,  and  it  is  said  they  worked  as  slaves  to 
him  and  the  Fians. 

According  to  tradition,  the  Pechts  were  very 
numerous,  and  must  have  carried  the  heavy  slabs 
for  the  roof  of  Finn  McCoul's  cave  a  distance  of 
several  miles.  Although  usually  looked  on  as 
strictly  human,  supernatural  characteristics  are 
sometimes  attributed  to  them.  Like  the  Swiss 
"  Servan,"  both  they  and  the  Grogachs  have  been 
known  to  thresh  corn  or  do  other  work  for  the 
farmers. 

I  was  told  at  Ballycastle  of  one  man  who  always 
laid  out  at  night  the  bundles  of  corn  he  expected 
the  Grogach  to  thresh,  and  each  morning  the 
appointed  task  was  accomplished.  One  night  he 
forgot  to  lay  the  corn  on  the  floor  of  the  barn,  and 
threw  his  flail  on  the  top  of  the  stack.  The  poor 
Grogach  imagined  that  he  was  to  thresh  the 
whole,  and  set  to  work  manfully;  but  the  task  was 
beyond  his  strength,  and  in  the  morning  he  was 
found  dead.  The  farmer  and  his  wife  buried  him, 
and  mourned  deeply  the  loss  of  their  small  friend. 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES 


51 


Clough-na-murry  Fort  is  said  to  be  a  "  gentle  "* 
place,  yet  an  old  man  living  near  it  told  me  he  did 
not  believe  in  the  Grogachs ;  he  thought  it  was  the 
Danes  who  had  worked  for  the  farmers.  He  said 
these  Danes  were  a  persevering  people,  and  that 
when  they  were  in  distress  they  would  thresh  corn 
for  the  farmers,  if  food  were  left  out  for  them. 
Others  say  that  the  Danes  were  too  proud  to  work. 

One  does  not  hear  much  of  Brownies  in  Ulster; 

but  I  have  been  told  they  were  hairy  people  who 

did  not  require  clothes,  but  would  thresh  or  cut 

down  a  field  of  corn  for  a  farmer.  On  one  occasion, 

out  of  gratitude  for  the  work  done,  some  porridge 

was  left  for  them  on  plates  round  the  fire.  They 

ate  it,  but  went  away  crying  sadly: 

"  I  got  my  mate  an'  my  wages, 
An'  they  want  nae  mair  o'  me." 

Although,  according  to  some,  the  Grogachs 
gladly  accept  food,  others  say  that  they  and  the 
Pechts  are  offended  if  it  is  offered  to  them,  and 
leave  to  return  no  more. 

I  have  not  often  heard  of  clothes  being  offered 

to  the  Pechts  or  Grogachs,  but  the  Rev.  John  G. 

Campbell  relates  a  story  of  a  Brownie  in  Shetland 

who  ground  grain  in  a  hand-quern  at  night.  He 

was  rewarded  for  his  labours  by  a  cloak  and  hood 

left  for  him  at  the  mill.    These  disappeared  in  the 

morning,  and  with  them  the  Brownie,  who  never 

came  back.f 

*  A  place  inhabited  by  fairies,  or  "  gentlefolk." 
t  "  Superstitions  of  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scot- 
land," p.  i88. 


52 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


A  similar  tale  is  told  of  a  Swiss  dwarf.  At  Ems, 
in  Canton  Valais,  a  miller  engaged  the  services 
of  a  "  Gottwerg/*  and  the  little  man  worked  early 
and  late,  sometimes  rising  in  the  night  to  see  that 
all  was  in  order.  The  mill  produced  twice  as 
much  as  formerly,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  the 
dwarf  was  rewarded  by  a  garment  made  of  the 
best  wool.  He  put  it  on,  jumped  for  joy,  and 
crying  out,  Now  I  am  a  handsome  man,  I  have 
no  more  need  to  grind  rye,"  he  disappeared,  and 
was  not  seen  again.* 

In  these  tales  from  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
Switzerland,  may  there  not  be  a  reminiscence  of  a 
conquered  race  of  small  stature,  but  considerable 
strength,  who  worked  either  as  slaves  or  for  some 
small  gift  ?  No  doubt  they  were  badly  fed,  and 
their  clothing  would  be  of  the  scantiest. 

Like  the  Danes  and  the  Pechts,  the  fairies  live 
underground.  There  is  a  widespread  stor}^  of  a 
fairy  woman  who  begs  a  cottager  not  to  throw 
water  out  at  the  doorstep,  as  it  falls  down  her 
chimney.    The  request  is  invariably  granted. 

Some  of  these  "  wee  folk  "  dwell  in  palaces 
under  the  sea.  I  heard  a  story  at  BallyHffan,  in 
Co.  Donegal,  of  men  being  out  in  a  boat  which  was 
nearly  capsized  by  a  heavy  sea  raised  by  a  fairy. 
At  last  one  sailor  cried  out  to  throw  a  nail  against 
the  advancing  wave;  this  was  done,  and  the  nail 
hit  the  fairy.    That  night  a  woman,  skilled  in 

*  Dr.  J.  Jegerlehner,  "  Was  die  Sennen  erzahlen,  Marchen 
und  Sagen  aus  dem  Wallis,"  pp.  102,  103, 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES 


53 


healing,  received  a  message  calling  upon  her  to 
go  to  the  courts  below  the  sea.  She  consented, 
extracted  the  nail,  and  cured  the  fairy  woman, 
but  was  careful  not  to  eat  any  food  offered  to  her. 
This  fairy  is  said  to  have  promised  a  man  a  pot  of 
gold  if  he  would  marry  her,  but  he  refused. 

An  old  man  at  Culdaff  told  me  another  tale  of 
the  sea.  A  fishing-boat  was  nearly  overwhelmed, 
when  a  fairy-boat  was  seen  riding  on  the  top  of  a 
great  wave,  and  a  voice  from  it  cried:  "  Do  not 
harm  that  boat ;  an  old  friend  of  mine  is  in  it.'*  The 
voice  belonged  to  a  man  who  was  supposed  to  be 
dead;  but  he  had  been  carried  off  by  the  fairies, 
and  would  not  allow  them  to  injure  his  old  friend. 

If  the  Irish  fairy  has  power  over  the  waves,  the 
Swiss  dwarf  can  divert  the  course  of  the  devas- 
tating landslip.  I  was  told  by  an  elderly  man  in 
the  Bernese  Oberland  of  the  destruction  of  Burg- 
lauenen,  a  village  near  Grindelwald.  All  the 
cottages  were  overwhelmed  by  a  landslip  except 
one  poor  hut,  which  had  given  shelter  to  a  dwarf, 
who  was  seen,  seated  on  a  stone,  directing  the 
moving  mass  away  from  the  abode  of  his  friends. 
A  similar  story  is  told  of  the  destruction  of  Nie- 
derdorf,  in  the  Simmenthal.*  One  Sunday  evening 
a  feeble  little  man  clad  in  rags  came  to  the  village ; 
he  knocked  at  several  houses,  praying  the  inmates 
to  give  him,  for  the  love  of  God,  a  night's  shelter. 

*  See  "  Der  Untergang  des  Niederdorfs  "  in  "  Sagen  und 
Sagengeschichtcn  aus  dem  Simmenthal,"  vol.  ii.,  pp.  29-44, 
D.  Gempeler. 


54 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


Everywhere  he  was  refused — one  hard-hearted 
woman  telHng  him  to  go  and  break  stones — until 
he  came  to  a  poor  basket-maker  and  his  wife, 
who  gave  him  the  best  they  had,  and  when  he  left 
he  promised  that  God  would  reward  them.  A 
week  later  the  village  was  destroyed  by  a  terrible 
landslip,  but  here  also  the  dwarf  saved  the  dwelling 
of  those  who  had  befriended  him. 

In  this  story  and  in  many  others  the  Swiss  dwarf 
appears  as  a  good  Christian,  but  sometimes  a  rude 
and  terrible  form  of  paganism  is  attributed  to 
him.  In  the  tale  of  the  Gotwergini  im  Lot- 
schental  these  dwarfs  are  accused  of  devouring 
children,  and  are  said  to  have  buried  an  old 
woman  alive.  She  was  apparently  one  of  them- 
selves. When  they  were  laying  her  in  the  pit  she 
wept  bitterly,  and  begged  that  she  might  go  free, 
saying  she  could  still  cook.  But  the  dwarfs  showed 
no  pity:  placing  some  bread  and  wine  beside  her, 
they  covered  in  the  grave.  Is  this  an  instance 
of  the  primitive  barbarism  of  killing  those  no 
longer  able  to  work,  which  is  said  still  to  exist 
among  the  Todas  of  India,  and  of  which  traces 
have  been  found  in  the  customs  of  Scandinavia 
and  other  countries  ?t 

The  Irish  fairy  never  appears  as  a  Christian. f 
He  is  regarded  by  the  peasant  as  a  fallen  angel, 

*  See  "  Am  Herdfeuer  der  Sennen,  Neue  Marchen  und  Sagen 
aus  dem  Wallis,"  pp.  26-31,  by  Dr.  J.  Jegerlehner. 

t  See  "  Folklore  as  an  Historical  Science,"  by  Sir  G.  Laurence 
Gomme,  pp.  67-78. 

X  I  have  heard  of  only  one  exception. 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES 


55 


and  no  Church  holds  out  to  him  the  hope  of  sal- 
vation. I  was  told  in  Inishowen  that  a  priest 
walking  between  Clonmany  and  Ballyliffan  was 
surrounded  by  the  "  wee  folk,"  who  asked  anxiously 
if  they  could  be  saved.  He  threw  his  book  towards 
them,  bade  them  catch  it,  and  he  would  give  them 
an  answer;  but  at  the  sight  of  the  breviary  they 
scattered  and  fled.* 

The  Protestant  Bible  and  hymn-book  are  equally 
dreaded  by  them,  and  are  used  as  a  spell  against 
their  influence.  I  was  told  in  the  North  of  Antrim 
of  a  woman  who  was  nearly  carried  off  by  the 
fairies  because  her  friends  had  omitted  to  leave 
these  books  beside  her.  Luckily  her  husband, 
who  was  sleeping  by  the  fire,  awoke  in  time  to 
save  her.  A  pair  of  scissors,  a  darning-needle,  or 
any  piece  of  iron,  would  have  been  efficacious  as 
a  charm,  so  would  the  husband's  trousers,  if 
thrown  across  the  bed. 

While,  as  we  have  seen,  the  fairies  are  endowed 
with  many  supernatural  qualities,  they  have  much 
in  common  with  ordinary  mortals;  there  are  fairy 

*  Patrick  Kennedy,  in  "  A  Belated  Priest,"  tells  how  the 
"  good  people  "  surrounded  a  priest  on  a  dark  night,  and  asked 
him  to  declare  that  at  the  Last  Day  their  lot  would  not  be 
with  Satan.  He  replied  by  the  question,  "  Do  you  adore  and 
love  the  Son  of  God  ?"  There  came  no  answer  but  weak  and 
shrill  cries,  and  with  a  rushing  of  wings  the  fairies  disappeared 
(see  "  Fictions  of  the  Irish  Celts,"  p.  89). 

In  "The  Priest's  Supper,"  the  good  people  are  anxious  to 
know  if  their  souls  will  be  saved  at  the  Last  Day,  but  when 
an  interview  with  a  priest  is  suggested  to  them  they  fly  away 
(see  "  Fairy  Legends  and  Traditions  of  the  South  of  Ireland," 
by  T.  Crofton  Croker,  pp.  36-42). 


56 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


men,  fairy  women,  and  fairy  children.  I  have 
more  than  once  heard  of  a  fairy's  funeral;  they 
intermarry  with  mortals,  and  I  have  been  told 
that  those  who  bear  the  name  of  Ferris  are  de- 
scended from  fairies.  I  presume  Ferris  is  a  cor- 
ruption of  Fir  Sidhe.  Fairies  are  never  associated 
with  churchyards,  nor  are  they  usually  looked  on 
as  the  spirits  of  the  departed.  The  banshee  may, 
indeed,  partake  to  some  extent  of  a  ghostly  char- 
acter. Lady  Wilde  speaks  of  her  as  the  "  spirit 
of  death — the  most  weird  and  awful  of  all  the 
fairy  powers,*'  and  adds,  but  only  certain  families 
of  historic  lineage  or  persons  gifted  with  music  and 
song  are  attended  by  this  spirit."* 

It  has  often  been  stated  that  the  banshee  is  an 
appanage  of  the  great,  but  this  is  not  the  belief 
of  the  peasantry  of  Ulster :  many  families  in  humble 
life  have  a  banshee  attached  to  them.  When  in 
a  curragh  on  Lough  Sessiagh,  in  Co.  Donegal,  the 
neighbouring  hill  of  Ben  011a  was  pointed  out  to 
me,  and  I  was  also  shown  a  small  cottage  in  which 
a  girl  named  011a  had  lived.  She  was  carried  off 
by  the  fairies,  and  her  wailing  was  heard  before 
the  death  of  her  mother,  and  again  before  the 
death  of  several  members  of  her  family.  A  farmer, 
or  even  a  labourer,  may  have  a  banshee  attached 
to  his  family — a  little  white  creature  was  the  de- 
scription given  to  me  by  a  woman  who  said  she  had 
seen  one;  others  say  that  banshees  are  like  birds. 

*  "  Ancient  Legends,  Mystic  Charms,  and  Superstitions  of 
Ireland,"  vol.  i.,  p.  250. 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES  57 


To  leave  these  weird  apparitions,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  ordinary  fairy,  the  Grogach,  the  Pecht, 
and  the  Dane,  all  inhabit  underground  dwelUngs, 
although  the  fairy  and  Grogach  are  regarded  more 
in  the  light  of  supernatural  beings.  To  cut  down 
a  fairy  or  a  "  Skiough  "  bush  is  to  court  misfor- 
tune, sometimes  to  attempt  an  impossible  task. 
In  Glenshesk  some  men  tried  to  cut  down 
a  Skiough  bush,  but  the  hatchet  broke;  after 
several  failures  they  gave  up,  and  the  bush  still 
flourishes.  Another  bush  was  transplanted,  but 
returned  during  the  night. 

To  the  Danes  and  Pechts  the  building  of  all  the 
raths  and  souterrains  is  ascribed,  and  in  North- 
East  Antrim  the  Pechts  are  said  to  have  been  so 
numerous  that,  when  making  a  fort,  they  could 
stand  in  a  long  line,  and  hand  the  earth  from  one 
to  another,  no  one  moving  a  step.  A  similar  story 
is  told  of  the  Scotch  Pechts  by  the  Rev.  Andrew 
Small  in  his  "Antiquities  of  Fife"  (1823).* 
Speaking  of  the  Round  Tower  of  Abernethy,  "  The 
story  goes,"  he  says,  '*  that  it  was  built  by  the 
Pechts  .  .  .  and  that  while  the  work  was  going  on 
they  stood  in  a  row  all  the  way  from  the  Lomond 
Hill  to  the  building,  handing  the  stones  from  one 
to  another.  .  .  .  That  it  has  been  built  of  freestone 
from  the  Lomond  Hill  is  clear  to  a  demonstration, 
as  the  grist  or  nature  of  the  stone  points  out  the 
very  spot  where  it  has  been  taken  from — namely, 

*  It  is  quoted  by  Mr.  David  MacRitchie  in  "  Testimony  of 
Tradition,"  p.  67. 


58 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


a  little  west,  and  up  from  the  ancient  wood  of 
Drumdriell,  about  a  mile  straight  south  from 
Meralsford."  According  to  popular  tradition  in 
Scotland,  these  Pechts  or  Picts  were  great  builders, 
and  many  of  the  edifices  ascribed  to  them  belong 
to  a  comparatively  late  period.  Mr.  MacRitchie 
suggests  that  in  the  erection  of  some  of  these  the 
Picts  may  have  been  employed  as  serfs  or  slaves.* 
He  beheves  the  Pechts  to  be  the  Picts  of  history. 
Mr.  W.  C.  Mackenzie,  on  the  other  hand,  has  sug- 
gested that  they  are  an  earlier  dwarf  race,  the  Pets 
or  Peti,  who  have  been  confused  by  the  peasantry 
with  the  Picts -t  This  is  a  matter  I  must  leave  to 
others  to  decide;  but  I  may  remark  in  passing  that 
in  an  ancient  poem  on  the  Cruithnians,  preserved 
in  the  book  of  Lecan,  we  have  a  suggestion  that 
these  Cruithnians  or  Picts  were  a  smaller  race  than 
their  enemies,  the  Tuath  Fidga.  We  are  told 
how 

"  God  vouchsafed  unto  them,  in  munificence, 
For  their  faithfuhiess — for  their  reward — 
To  protect  them  from  the  poisoned  arms 
Of  the  repulsive  horrid  giants."  J 

Then  follows  an  account  of  the  cure  discovered 
by  the  Cruithnian  Druid — how  he  milked  thrice 
fifty  cows  into  one  pit,  and  bathing  in  this  pit 

*  "  Testimony  of  Tradition,"  p.  68. 

t  See  "  The  Picts  and  Pets  "  in  the  Antiquary  for  May,  1906, 
p.  172. 

%  "  The  Irish  Version  of  the  Historia  Britonum  of  Nennius," 
edited,  with  a  translation  and  notes,  by  James  H.  Todd,  D.D., 
F.T.C.  (Dublin,  1848).  The  verse  quoted  is  given  at  p.  Ixix, 
additional  notes. 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES  59 


appears  to  have  healed  the  warriors  and  pre- 
served them  from  harm. 

In  an  article  on  "  The  Fairy  Mythology  of 
Europe  in  its  Relation  to  Early  History,"* 
Mr.  A.  S.  Herbert  identifies  the  early  dwarf 
race  with  Palaeolithic  man,  and  states  that  from 
such  skeletons  as  have  been  unearthed  "it  is 
believed  that  they  were  a  people  of  Mongolian 
or  Turanian  origin,  short,  squat,  yellow-skinned, 
and  swarthy;" 

Professor  J.  Kollmann,  of  Basle,  speaking 
of  dwarf  races,  describes  "  the  flat,  broad  face, 
with  a  flat,  broad,  low  nose  and  large  nose 
roots. "t 

Compare  these  statements  with  the  description 
given  by  Harris  in  the  eighteenth  century  of  the 
native  inhabitants  of  the  northern  and  eastern 
coasts  of  Ireland.  "  They  are,"  he  says,  "  of  a 
squat  sett  Stature,  have  short,  broad  Faces,  thick 
Lips,  hollow  Eyes,  and  Noses  cocked  up,  and  seem 
to  be  a  distinct  people  from  the  Western  Irish,  by 
whom  they  are  called  Clan-galls — i.e.,  the  off"spring 
of  the  Galls.  The  curious  may  carr>'  these  obser- 
vations further.  Doubtless  a  long  intercourse  and 
various  mixtures  of  the  natives  have  much  worn 

*  See  the  Nineteenth  Century,  February,  1908. 

t  See  "  Ein  dolichokephaler  Schadel  aus  dem  Dachsenbuel 
und  die  Bedeutung  der  kleinen  Menschenrassen  fur  das 
Abstammungsproblem  der  Grossen."  His  words  are:  "In 
dem  platten,  breiten  Gesicht  sitzt  dann  eine  platte,  breite, 
niedrige  Nase,  mit  breiter  Nasenwfirzel."  He  is  speaking  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  present  dwarf  races  found  throughout 
the  world,  and  quotes  the  authority  of  Hagen. 


60  ULSTER  FOLKLORE 

out  these  distinctions,  of  which  I  think  there  are 
yet  visible  remains."* 

We  have,  indeed,  had  in  Ireland  from  very  early 
times  a  mingling  of  various  races,  but  in  the  North 
we  are  in  the  home  of  the  Irish  Picts  or  Cruith- 
nians,  and  possibly  this  description  of  Harris  may 
indicate  that  some  of  the  inhabitants  in  his  day 
bore  marks  of  a  dwarfish  ancestry.  I  have 
already  drawn  attention  to  a  statement  in  an  old 
Irish  manuscript  j  that  the  Luchorpan  or  wee- 
bodies,  the  Fomores  and  others,  were  of  the  race 
of  Ham.  Keating  also  speaks  of  the  Fomorians 
being  sea-rovers  of  the  race  of  Cam  (Ham),  who 
fared  from  Africa,^  and  states  that  among  the 
articles  of  tribute  exacted  by  them  from  the  race 
of  Neimhidh  were  two-thirds  of  the  children. 
Unless  these'  were  all  slaughtered,  we  have  here 
an  intermingling  of  races,  and  in  the  same  way 
it  would  be  quite  possible  that  Finn  McCoul 
might  be  a  tall  man,  and  yet  the  leader  of  the 
small  Pechts.  The  capture  of  women  and  children 
has  been  a  common  practice  among  savage  races, 
and  this  I  believe  to  be  the  origin  of  many  fairy- 
tales, rather  than  any  reference  to  the  abode  of 

*  Sir  James  Ware's  "  Antiquities  of  Ireland,"  translated, 
revised,  and  improved,  with  many  material  additions,  by- 
Walter  Harris,  Esq.,  vol.  ii.,  chap,  ii.,  p.  17  (Dublin,  1764). 
The  above  is  taken  from  one  of  the  additional  notes  by  Harris. 

t  Quoted  by  Mr.  Standish  H.  O' Grady  in  "  Silva  Gadelica  " 
(translation  and  notes),  pp.  563,  564.    See  Ante  p.  32. 

J  Keating's  "  History  of  Ireland,"  book  i.,  chap.  viii.  Trans- 
lation by  P.  W.  Joyce,  LL.D.,  M.R.LA. 


\ 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES 


61 


the  dead.  Throughout  the  "  Colloquy  of  the 
Ancients,"  Finn  and  the  Fianna  frequently  enter 
the  green  sidh — the  mound  where  the  Tuatha  de 
Danann  dwell,  and  from  which  the  fairies  derive 
their  name  "  fir-sidh."  Sometimes  they  fight  as 
allies  of  the  inmates ;  frequently  they  intermarry 
with  them.*  Throughout  this  colloquy  the  dwellers 
in  the  sidh  possess  many  magical  powers,  but  they 
hardly  appear  as  gods  of  the  ancient  Irish,  and  the 
verse  in  Fiacc's  hymn  referring  to  the  worship 
of  the  Sidis  is  not  among  the  stanzas  regarded  as 
genuine  by  Professor  Bury.t 

We  see  that  both  in  Ireland  and  Switzerland 
there  are  many  legends  of  dwarf  races  who  inhabit 
underground  dwelhngs.  In  Switzerland  their 
skeletons  have  been  found.  Those  discovered  by 
Dr.  Nuesch  at  Schweizersbild,  near  Schaffhausen, 
have  been  minutely  described  by  Dr.  J.  Kollmann, 
Professor  of  Anatomy  at  Basle. {  This  burial- 
place  dates  from  the  early  Neolithic  period;  in  it 
are  found  skeletons  belonging  to  men  of  ordinary 
height,  and  in  close  proximity  the  graves  of  dwarfs. 

The  neighbourhood  of  Schaffhausen  appears  to 
be  rich  in  the  remains  of  early  man;  several 
skeletons  have  been  found  in  the  cave  of  Dach- 
senbiiel,  two  of  them  of  small  men,  "  such  as  in 

*  See  Gael's  "  Wooing  of  Credhe  "  in  "  The  Colloquy  of  the 
Ancients  "  ;  "  Silva  Gadelica,"  by  Standish  H.  0' Grady,  volume 
with  translation  and  notes,  pp.  1 19-122. 

t  See  "  Life  of  St.  Patrick,"  p.  264. 

t  See  Der  Mensch,  "  Separat-Abzug  aus  den  Dcnkschriften 
der  Schweiz  Naturforschenden  Gescllschaft,"  Band  xxxv,  1896. 


62 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


Africa  would  be  accounted  pygmies."*  Professor 
Kollmann  mentions  several  other  places  in  Switzer- 
land where  skeletons  of  dwarfs  have  been  found, 
as  also  in  the  Grotte  des  Enfants  on  the  Bay  of 
Genoa.  He  also  speaks  of  dwarf  races  existing 
at  the  present  day  in  Sicily,  Sardinia,  Sumatra, 
the  Philippine  Islands,  besides  the  well-known 
Veddas  of  Ceylon,  the  Andaman  Islanders,  and 
the  African  pygmies.  He  beheves  that  these 
small  people  represent  the  oldest  form  of  human 
beings,  and  that  from  them  the  taller  races  have 
been  evolved. 

How  long  did  these  primitive  people  continue 
to  exist  in  Ireland  and  in  Switzerland  ?  It  would 
be  difficult  to  say.  Tradition  ascribes  to  them  a 
strong  physique,  but  even  if  they  could  hold  their 
own  with  the  taller  races  in  the  Neolithic  period, 
it  must  have  been  hard  for  them  to  contend  with 
those  who  used  weapons  of  bronze  or  iron,  and,  as 
we  have  seen,  iron  is  specially  obnoxious  to  the 
fairies.  The  people,  however,  who  built  the  large 
number  of  souterrains  dotted  over  Antrim  and 
Down  could  not  be  easily  exterminated.  Many 
of  them  may  have  been  enslaved  or  gradually 
absorbed  in  the  rest  of  the  population;  others 
would  take  refuge  in  retired  spots,  such  as  are  still 
spoken  of  as  "  gentle  or  haunted  by  fairies.  If 
I  might  hazard  a  conjecture,  I  should  say  that  both 

*  See  the  paper  already  referred  to,  "  Ein  dolichokephaler 
Schadel,"  etc.  Professor  J.  KoUmann's  words  are:  "  Die  man 
in  Africa  wohl  zu  den  Pygmaen  zahlen  wurde." 


TRADITIONS  OF  DWARF  RACES 


63 


in  Ireland  and  in  Switzerland  dwarf  races  had  sur- 
vived far  into  Christian  times,  perhaps  to  a  com- 
paratively recent  period.  The  Irish  fairy  may  pos- 
sibly represent  those  who  refused  to  accept  the 
teaching  of  St.  Patrick  and  St.  Columbkill,  while 
St.  Gall  and  other  Irish  monks  may  have  num- 
bered Swiss  dwarfs  among  their  converts.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  we  have  certainly  in  Ulster  the 
tradition  of  two  dwarf  races,  the  small  Danes  and 
the  Pechts,  who  are  undoubtedly  human.  We  are 
shown  their  handiwork,  and,  primitive  as  are  their 
underground  dwellings,  the  builders  of  the  souter- 
rains  had  advanced  far  beyond  the  stage  when 
man  could  only  find  shelter  in  the  caves  provided 
for  him  by  Nature.  How  many  centuries  did  he 
take  to  learn  the  lesson  ?  It  is  a  far-reaching 
question,  but  here  fairy-tales  and  popular  legends 
are  silent.  They  keep  no  count  of  time,  although 
they  may  bring  to  us  whispers  from  long-past  ages. 


Folklore  from  Donegal* 

THE  stories  current  among  the  peasantry  are 
varied,  especially  in  Donegal,  where  we  hear 
of  giants  and  fairies,  of  small  and  tall  Finns,  of 
short,  stout  Firbolgs  or  Firwolgs,  of  Danes  who  made 
heather  ale,  and  sometimes  of  Pechts  with  their 
large  feet. 

According  to  one  legend,  the  fairies  were  angels 
who  had  remained  neutral  during  the  great  w^ar  in 
heaven.  They  are  sometimes  represented  as  kindly, 
but  often  as  mischievous.  Near  Dungiven,  in  Co. 
Derry,  I  was  told  of  a  friendly  fairy  who,  dressed 
as  an  old  woman,  came  one  evening  to  a  cottage 
where  a  poor  man  and  his  wife  lived.  She  said 
to  the  wife  that  if  the  stone  at  the  foot  of  the 
table  were  lifted  she  would  find  something  that 
would  last  her  all  her  days.  As  soon  as  the  visitor 
was  gone,  the  wife  called  to  her  husband  to  bring 
a  crowbar;  they  raised  the  stone,  and  under  it 
was  a  crock  of  gold. 

The  old  man  who  related  this  story  to  me  had 
himself  found  in  a  bog  a  crock  covered  with  a 
slate.    He  hoped  it  might  be  full  of  gold,  but  it 

*  Read  before  the  Archaeological  Section  of  the  Belfast 
Naturalists'  Field  Club,  February  8,  191 1. 

64 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL 


(55 


only  contained  bog  butter,  which  he  used  for 
greasing  cart-wheels. 

A  carman  at  Rosapenna  told  me  how  the  fairies 
would  lead  people  astray,  carrying  one  man  off  to 
Scotland.  A  girl  had  her  face  twisted  through 
their  influence,  and  had  to  go  to  the  priest  to  be 
cured.  "  He  was,"  the  man  added,  "  one  of  the 
old  sort,  who  could  work  miracles,  of  whom  there 
are  not  many  nowadays."  Near  Finntown  a  girl 
had  offended  the  fairies  by  washing  clothes  in  a 
"  gentle  "  burn,  or  stream  haunted  by  the  little 
people.  Her  eyes  were  turned  to  the  back  of  her 
head.  She,  too,  invoked  the  aid  of  a  priest,  and 
his  blessing  restored  them  to  their  proper  place. 

Donegal  fairies  appear  able  to  adapt  themselves 
to  modern  conditions.  I  was  told  at  Finntown  they 
did  not  interfere  with  the  railway,  as  they  some- 
times enjoyed  a  ride  on  the  top  of  the  train. 
Although  usually  only  seen  in  secluded  spots,  they 
occasionally  visit  a  fair  or  market,  but  are  much 
annoyed  if  recognized. 

In  the  following  story  we  have  an  illustration 
of  intercourse  between  fairies  and  human  beings : 
An  old  woman  at  Glenties  was  called  upon  by  a 
strange  man  to  give  her  aid  at  the  birth  of  a  child. 
At  first  she  refused,  but  he  urged  her,  saying  it 
was  not  far,  and  in  the  end  she  consented.  When 
he  brought  her  to  his  dwelling  she  saw  a  daughter 
whom  she  had  supposed  to  be  dead,  but  who  was 
now  the  wife  of  the  fairy  man.  The  daughter 
begged  her  not  to  let  it  be  known  she  was  her 

5 


66 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


mother,  and,  giving  her  a  ring,  bade  her  look  on 
it  at  times  and  she  would  know  when  they  could 
meet.  She  also  added  that  her  husband  would  cer- 
tainly offer  a  reward,  but  she  implored  her  mother 
not  to  accept  it,  but  to  ask  that  the  red-haired 
boy  might  be  given  to  her.  ''He  will  not  be 
willing  to  part  from  him,"  the  daughter  added; 
"  but  if  you  beg  earnestly,  he  will  give  him  to  you 
in  the  end."  The  mother  attended  her  daughter, 
and  when  his  child  was  born  the  fairy  man  offered 
her  a  rich  reward,  but  she  refused,  praying  only 
that  the  red-haired  boy  might  be  given  to  her. 
At  first  the  father  refused,  but  when  she  pleaded 
her  loneliness,  he  granted  her  request.  The 
daughter  was  well  pleased,  told  her  mother  they 
might  meet  at  the  fair  on  the  hill  behind  Glenties, 
but  warned  her  that  even  if  she  saw  the  fairy  man 
she  must  never  speak  to  him.  The  old  woman 
returned  to  her  home,  taking  her  grandson,  the 
red-haired  boy,  with  her.  She  kept  the  ring 
carefully,  and  it  gave  her  warning  when  she  would 
meet  her  daughter  on  the  hill  at  Glenties.  These 
interviews  were  for  a  long  time  a  great  comfort 
to  mother  and  daughter,  but  one  day,  in  the  joy 
of  her  heart,  the  mother  shook  hands  with  and 
spoke  to  the  fairy  man.  He  turned  to  her  angrily 
asking  how  she  could  see  him,  and  with  that  he 
blew  upon  her  eyes,  so  that  she  could  no  longer 
discern  fairies.  The  precious  ring  also  disappeared, 
and  she  never  again  saw  her  daughter. 

Variants  of  this  story  were  told  to  me  by  an  old 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL  67 


woman  at  Portstewart,  and  by  a  man  whom  I 
met  near  Lough  Salt  during  the  Rosapenna  Con- 
ference of  Field  Clubs.  In  these  versions  there  is 
no  mention  of  the  red-haired  boy,  nor  of  the  old 
woman  being  the  mother  of  the  fairy  man's  wife; 
she  is  simply  called  in  to  attend  to  her.  When 
rubbing  ointment  on  the  infant,  she  accidentally 
draws  her  hand  across  one  of  her  eyes  and  acquires 
the  power  of  seeing  the  fairies.  Shortly  after- 
wards she  meets  the  fairy  man  at  a  market  or  fair, 
and  inquires  for  his  wife.  He  is  annoyed  at  being 
recognized,  asks  with  which  eye  she  sees  him, 
blows  upon  it,  and  puts  it  out.* 

*  In  "  Celtic  Folklore,"  vol.  i.,  p.  210  et  seq..  Sir  John 
Rliys  relates  a  similar  story.  Here  the  woman  is  brought  to 
a  place  which  appears  to  her  to  be  the  finest  she  has  ever  seen. 
When  the  child  is  born  the  father  gives  her  ointment  to  anoint 
its  eyes,  but  entreats  her  not  to  touch  her  own  with  it.  In- 
advertently she  rubs  her  finger  across  her  eye,  and  now  she 
sees  that  the  wife  is  her  former  maidservant  Eilian,  and  that 
she  lies  on  a  bundle  of  rushes  and  withered  leaves  in  a  cave. 
Not  long  afterwards  the  woman  sees  the  husband  in  the 
market  at  Carnarvon,  and  asks  for  Eilian.  He  is  angry,  and, 
inquiring  with  which  eye  she  sees  him,  puts  it  out  with  a 
bulrush. 

From  Palestine  we  have  another  variant  of  this  story.  The 
Rev.  J.  E.  Hanauer,  in  "  Folklore  of  the  Holy  Land,"  pp.  210 
et  seq.,  tells  of  a  woman  at  El  Welejeh  wiio  had  spoken  unkindly 
to  a  frog.  The  next  night,  on  waking,  she  found  herself  in  a 
cave  surrounded  by  strange,  angry-looking  people;  one  of 
these  "  Jan  "  reproached  her  bitterly,  saying  that  the  frog  was 
his  wife,  and  threatening  her  with  dire  consequences  unless 
a  son  were  born.  She  assisted  at  the  birth  of  the  child,  who 
was  fortunately  a  boy,  and  was  given  a  mukhaleh  or  kohl 
vessel,  and  was  bidden  to  rub  some  of  this  kohl  on  the  infant's 
eyes.  When  she  had  done  this,  she  rubbed  some  on  one  of 
her  own  eyes,  but  before  she  had  time  to  put  any  on  the  other 


68 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


In  another  Donegal  legend  the  fairies  gain  posses- 
sion of  a  bride,  and  would  have  kept  her  in  cap- 
tivity had  not  their  plans  been  frustrated  by  a 
mortal.  This  is  the  story  as  told  to  me  near 
Gweedore,  and  also  at  Kincasslagh,  a  small  sea- 
port in  the  Rosses.  Owen  Boyle  lived  with  his 
mother  near  Kincasslagh,  and  worked  as  a  car- 
penter. One  Hallow  Eve,  on  his  return  home,  he 
found  a  calf  was  missing,  and  went  out  to  look 
for  it.  He  was  told  it  was  behind  a  stone  near 
the  spink  or  rock  of  Dunathaid,  and  when  he  got 
there  he  saw  the  calf,  but  it  ran  away  and  dis- 
appeared through  an  opening  in  the  rock.  Owen 
was  at  first  afraid  to  follow,  but  suddenly  he  was 
pushed  in,  and  the  door  closed  behind  him.  He 
found  himself  in  a  company  of  fairies,  and  heard 
them  saying:  "  This  is  good  whisky  from  O'Don- 
nel's  still.  He  buried  a  nine-gallon  keg  in  the 
bog;  it  burst,  the  hoops  came  off,  and  the  whisky 
has  come  to  us."  One  of  the  fairies  gave  Owen 
a  glass,  saying  he  might  be  useful  to  them  that 
night.  They  asked  if  he  would  be  willing  to  go 
with  them,  and,  being  anxious  to  get  out  of  the 
cave,  he  at  once  consented.  They  all  mounted 
on  horses,  and  away  they  went  through  Dungloe, 
across  the  hills  to  Dochary,  then  to  Glenties,  and 

the  vessel  was  angrily  taken  from  her.  She  was  rewarded  with 
onion-leaves,  which  in  the  morning  turned  to  gold.  Some 
time  afterwards  this  woman  was  shopping  at  El  Kuds,  when 
she  saw  the  Jennizeh  pilfering  from  shop  to  shop.  She  spoke 
to  her  and  kissed  the  baby,  but  the  other  answered  fiercely, 
and,  poking  her  finger  into  the  woman's  eye,  put  it  out. 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL  69 


through  Mount  Charles  to  Ballyshannon,  and 
thence  to  Connaught.  They  came  to  a  house 
where  great  preparations  were  being  made  for  a 
wedding.  The  fairies  told  Owen  to  go  in  and 
dance  with  any  girl  who  asked  him.  He  was  much 
pleased  to  see  that  he  was  now  wearing  a  good  suit 
of  clothes,  and  gladly  joined  in  the  dance.  After  a 
time  there  was  a  cry  that  the  bride  would  choose 
a  partner,  and  the  partner  she  chose  was  Owen 
Boyle.  They  danced  until  the  bride  fell  down  in 
a  faint,  and  the  fairies,  who  had  crept  in  unseen, 
bore  her  away.  They  mounted  their  horses  and 
took  the  bride  with  them,  sometimes  one  carrying 
her  and  sometimes  another.  They  had  ridden  thus 
for  a  time  when  one  of  the  fairies  said  to  Owen: 
"  You  have  done  well  for  us  to-night."  "  And 
little  I  have  got  for  it,"  was  the  reply;  "  not  even 
a  turn  of  carrying  the  bride."  "  That  you  ought 
to  have,"  said  the  fair}^,  and  called  out  to  give  the 
bride  to  Owen.  Owen  took  her,  and,  urging  his 
horse,  outstripped  the  fairies.  They  pursued  him, 
but  at  Bal  Cruit  Strand  he  drew  with  a  black 
knife  a  circle  round  himself  and  the  bride,  which 
the  fairies  could  not  cross.  One  of  them,  however, 
stretched  out  a  long  arm  and  struck  the  bride  on 
the  face,  so  that  she  became  deaf  and  dumb.  When 
the  fairies  left  him,  Owen  brought  the  girl  to  his 
mother,  and  in  reply  to  her  questions,  said  he  had 
brought  home  one  to  whom  all  kindness  should.be 
shown.  They  gave  her  the  best  seat  by  the  fire ;  she 
helped  in  the  housework,  but  remained  speechless. 


70 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


A  year  passed,  and  on  Hallow  Eve  Owen  went 
again  to  Dunathaid.  The  door  of  the  cave  was 
open.  He  entered  boldly,  and  found  the  fairies 
enjoying  themselves  as  before.  One  of  them 
recognized  him,  and  said:  Owen  Boyle,  you 
played  us  a  bad  trick  when  you  carried  off  that 
woman."  **  And  a  pretty  woman  you  left  with  me  ! 
She  can  neither  hear  nor  speak  !"  Oh  !"  said 
another,  *^  if  she  had  a  taste  of  this  bottle,  she 
could  do  both  !"  When  Owen  heard  these  words 
he  seized  the  bottle,  ran  home  with  it,  and,  pour- 
ing a  little  into  a  glass,  gave  it  to  the  poor  girl  to 
drink.  Hearing  and  speech  were  at  once  restored. 
Owen  returned  the  bottle  to  the  fairies,  and, 
before  long,  he  set  out  for  Connaught,  taking  the 
girl  with  him  to  restore  her  to  her  parents.  When 
he  arrived,  he  asked  for  a  night's  lodging  for 
himself  and  his  companion.  The  mother,  although 
she  said  she  had  little  room,  admitted  them,  and 
soon  Owen  saw  her  looking  at  the  girl.  "  Why  are 
you  gazing  at  my  companion?"  he  asked.  She 
is  so  like  a  daughter  of  mine  who  died  a  twelve- 
month ago."  "  No,"  replied  Owen;  she  did  not 
die;  she  was  carried  off  by  the  fairies,  and  here 
she  is."  There  was  great  rejoicing,  and  before 
long  Owen  was  married  to  the  girl,  the  former 
bridegroom  having  gone  away.  He  brought  her 
home  to  Kincasslagh,  and  not  a  mile  from  the 
village,  close  to  Bal  Cruit  Strand,  may  be  seen 
the  ring  which  defended  her  and  Owen  from  the 
fairies.    It  is  a  very  large  fairy  ring,  but  why  the 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL 


71 


grass  should  grow  luxuriantly  on  it  tradition  does 
not  say. 

During  the  Field  Club  Conference  at  Rosapenna 
a  variant  of  this  story  was  told  me  by  a  lad  on 
the  heights  above  Gortnalughoge  Bay.  Here  the 
man  who  rode  with  the  fairies  was  John  Friel, 
from  Fanad.  They  went  to  Dublin  and  brought 
away  a  young  girl  from  her  bed,  leaving  something 
behind,  which  the  parents  beHeved  to  be  their 
dead  daughter.  Meanwhile  the  young  girl  was 
taken  northwards  by  the  fairies.  As  they  drew 
near  to  Fanad,  John  Friel  begged  to  be  allowed  to 
carry  her,  and  quickly  taking  her  to  his  own 
cottage,  kept  her  there  with  his  mother.  The  girl 
was  deaf  and  dumb,  but  there  was  no  mention  of 
the  magic  circle  or  of  the  blow  from  the  fairy's 
hand.  At  the  end  of  the  year  John  Friel,  like 
Owen  Boyle,  pays  another  visit  to  the  fairies, 
overhears  their  conversation,  snatches  the  bottle, 
and  a  few  drops  from  it  restore  speech  and  hearing 
to  the  girl.  He  takes  her  to  Dublin.  Her  parents 
cannot  at  first  beheve  that  she  is  truly  their 
daughter,  but  the  mother  recognizes  her  by  a  mark 
on  the  shoulder,  and  the  tale  ends  with  great  re- 
joicing.* 

In  these  stories  we  see  the  relations  between 
fairies  and  mortals.  The  fairy  man  marries  a 
human  wife;  he  appears  solicitous  for  her  health, 

*  In  "  Guleesh  na  Guss  Dhu,"  Dr.  Douglas  Hyde  gives  us  a 
similar  tale  from  Co.  Mayo.  See  "  Beside  the  Fire,"  pp.  104- 
128. 


72 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


and  is  willing  to  pay  a  high  reward  to  the  nurse, 
but  the  caution  his  wife  gives  to  her  mother  shows 
her  fear  of  him,  and  when  the  latter  forgets  this 
warning  and  speaks  to  the  husband,  he  effectively 
stops  all  intercourse  between  her  and  her  daughter. 

In  another  story  we  see  that  it  was  the  living 
girl  who  was  carried  off,  and  only  a  false  image  left 
to  deceive  her  parents.*  It  is  true  that,  through 
the  magic  of  the  fairies,  she  becomes  deaf  and  dumb, 
but  when  this  is  overcome,  she  returns  home  safe 
and  sound.  The  black  knife  used  by  Owen  Boyle 
was  doubtless  an  iron  knife,  that  metal  being 
always  obnoxious  to  the  fairies. 

Stories  of  children  being  carried  off  by  fairies 
are  numerous.  There  was  a  man  lived  near 
Croghan  Fort,  not  far  from  Lifford,  who  was  short, 
and  had  a  cataract — or,  as  the  country-people  call 
it,  a  pearl — on  his  eye.  He  was  returning  home 
after  the  birth  of  his  child,  when  he  met  the  fairies 
carrying  off  the  infant.  They  were  about  to  change 
a  benwood  into  the  likeness  of  a  child,  saying: 

"  Make  it  wee,  make  it  short; 
Make  it  like  its  ain  folk ; 
Put  a  pearl  in  its  eye ; 
Make  it  like  its  Dadie." 

Here  the  man  interrupted  them,  throwing  up 
sand,  and  exclaiming:  "In  the  name  of  God,  this 

*  In  "  Folk  Tales  from  BrefEny,"  by  B.  Hunt,  there  is  a 
story  (pp.  99-103),  "The  Cutting  of  the  Tree,"  which  tells  of 
how  the  fairies,  when  baffled  in  their  endeavour  to  carry  off 
the  mistress  of  the  house,  left  in  the  kitchen  a  wooden  image 
*'  cut  into  the  living  likeness  of  the  woman  of  the  house." 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL 


73 


to  youse  and  mine  to  me  !"  They  flung  his  own 
child  at  him,  but  it  broke  its  hinch,  or  thigh,  and 
was  a  cripple  all  its  days. 

It  is  not  often  that  fairies  are  associated  with 
the  spirits  of  the  departed,  but  in  Tory  Island  and 
in  some  other  parts  of  Donegal  it  is  believed  that 
those  who  are  drowned  become  fairies.  In  Tory 
Island  I  also  heard  that  those  who  exceeded  in 
whisky  met  the  same  fate. 

According  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  island, 
fairies  can  make  themselves  large  or  small;  their 
hair  may  be  red,  white,  or  black;  but  they  dress 
in  black — a  very  unusual  colour  for  fairies  to  appear 
in.  It  may  perhaps  be  explained  by  remembering 
that  Tory  Island,  or  Toirinis,  was  a  stronghold  of 
the  Fomorians,  whom  Keating  describes  as  "  sea 
rovers  of  the  race  of  Cam,  who  fared  from  Africa."* 
I  need  hardly  add  that  "  Cam  "  is  an  old  name 
for  "  Ham."  I  should  infer  that  the  fairies  of 
Tory  Island  represent  a  dark  race. 

King  Balor,  it  is  true,  is  not  of  diminutive 
stature.  I  heard  much  of  this  chieftain  with  the 
eye  at  the  back  of  his  head,  which,  if  uncovered, 
would  kill  anyone  exposed  to  its  gaze.  He  knew 
it  had  been  said  in  old  times  that  he  should  die  by 
the  hand  of  his  daughter's  son,  and  he  determined 
his  daughter  should  remain  childless.  He  shut  her 
up  in  Tormore,  with  twelve  ladies  to  wait  on  her. 
Balor  had  no  smith  on  the  island,  but  at  Clogha- 
nealy,  on  the  mainland,  there  lived  a  smith  who 
*  See  anie,  p.  60. 


74 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


had  the  finest  cow  in  the  world,  named  Glasgavlen, 
He  kept  a  boy  to  watch  it,  but,  notwithstanding 
this  precaution,  two  of  Balor's  servants  carried  off 
the  cow.  When  the  herd-boy  saw  it  was  gone,  he 
wept  bitterly,  for  the  smith  had  told  him  his  head 
would  be  taken  off  if  he  did  not  bring  her  back. 
Suddenly  a  fairy,  Geea  Dubh,  came  out  of  the  rock, 
and  told  the  boy  the  cow  was  in  Tory,  and  if  he 
followed  her  advice  he  would  get  it  back.  She 
made  a  curragh  for  him,  and  he  crossed  over  to  Tory, 
but  he  did  not  get  the  cow.  The  tale  now  becomes 
confused.  We  hear  of  twelve  children,  and  how 
Balor  ordered  them  all  to  be  drowned,  but  his 
daughter's  son  was  saved.  The  fairy  told  the  herd- 
boy  that,  if  the  child  were  taken  care  of,  it  would 
grow  up  like  a  crop  which,  when  put  into  the  earth 
one  day,  sprouts  up  the  next. 

The  boy  took  service  under  Balor,  and  the  child 
was  sent  to  the  ladies,  who  brought  him  up  for 
three  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  the  herd  boy 
took  him  to  the  mainland,  where  he  grew  up  a  strong 
youth,  and  worked  for  the  smith.  On  one  occa- 
sion Balor  sent  messengers  across  to  the  mainland, 
but  the  lad  attacked  them  and  cut  out  their 
tongues.  The  maimed  messengers  returned  to 
Tory,  and  when  Balor  saw  them  he  knew  that  he 
who  had  done  this  deed  was  the  dreaded  grand- 
son. He  set  out  to  kill  him;  but  when  the  youth 
saw  Balor  approaching  the  forge,  he  drew  the  poker 
from  the  fire  and  thrust  it  into  the  eye  at  the 
back  of  the  King's  head. 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL 


75 


The  wounded  Balor  called  to  his  grandson  to 
come  to  him,  and  he  would  leave  him  everything. 
The  youth  was  wise;  he  did  not  go  too  near  Balor, 
but  followed  him  from  Falcarragh  to  Gweedore. "  Are 
you  near  me  ?"  was  the  question  put  by  the  King  as 
he  walked  along,  water  streaming  from  his  wounded 
eye ;  and  this  water  formed  the  biggest  lough  in  the 
world,  three  times  as  deep  as  Lough  Foyle. 

I  have  given  this  story  as  it  was  told  to  me  by 
an  elderly  man  in  a  cottage  on  Tory  Island. 

A  version  of  it  is  related  by  the  late  Most  Rev. 
Dr.  MacDevittin  the  "  Donegal  Highlands."  It  is  re- 
ferred to  by  Mr.  Stephen  Gwynn,  M.P.,  in  "  Highways 
and  Byways  in  Donegal  and  Antrim,"  and  a  very 
full  narrative  is  given  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  in  a  note 
in  his  edition  of  the  "  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters."* 
Dr.  O'Donovan  states  that  he  had  the  story  from 
Shane  O'Dugan,  whose  ancestor  is  said  to  have 
been  living  in  Tory  in  the  time  of  St.  Columbkille. 
Here  we  read  of  the  stratagem  by  which  Balor, 
assuming  the  shape  of  a  red-haired  little  boy, 
carried  off  the  famous  cow  Glasgavlen  from  the 
chieftain  MacKineely,  and  it  is  not  the  herdboy, 
but  the  chieftain  himself,  who  is  wafted  across  to 
Tory  Island  and  introduced  to  Balor's  daughter. 
Three  sons  are  born;  Balor  orders  them  all  to  be 
drowned,  but  the  eldest  is  saved  by  the  friendly 
banshee  and  taken  to  his  father,  who  places  him 
in  fosterage  under  his  brother,  the  great  smith 
Gavida.  After  a  time  MacKineely  falls  a  victim  to 
*  Pp.  18-21. 


76 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


the  vengeance  of  Balor,  and  is  beheaded  on  the 
stone  Clough-an-neely,  where  the  marks  of  his 
blood  may  still  be  seen. 

Balor  now  deems  himself  secure.  He  often  visits 
the  forge  of  Gavida,  and  one  day,  when  there,  boasts 
of  his  conquest  of  MacKineely.  No  sooner  has  he 
uttered  the  proud  words  than  the  young  smith 
seizes  a  glowing  rod  from  the  furnace  and  thrusts 
it  through  Balor's  basilisk  eye  so  far  that  it  comes 
out  at  the  other  side  of  his  head. 

It  will  be  noted  that  in  this  version  Balor's 
death  is  instantaneous;  nothing  is  said  about  the 
deep  lough  formed  by  the  water  from  his  eye. 

According  to  O'Flaherty's  "  Ogygia,"  Balor  was 
killed  at  the  second  battle  of  Moyture  "  by  a  stone 
thrown  at  him  by  his  grandson  by  his  daughter 
from  a  machine  called  Tabhall  (which  some  assert 
to  be  a  sling)."* 

If  Balor  is  the  grim  hero  of  Tory  Island,  on  the 
mainland  we  hear  much  of  Finn  McCoul.  I  was 
informed  that  he  had  an  eye  at  the  back  of  his 
head,  and  was  so  tall  his  feet  came  out  at  the  door 
of  his  house.  How  large  the  house  was,  tradition 
does  not  say.  The  island  of  Carrickfinn  opposite 
to  Bunbeg  is  said  to  have  been  a  favourite  hunting- 
ground  of  Finn  McCoul.  When  crossing  over  to 
this  island,  I  was  told  by  the  boatman  that  the 
Danes  were  stout,  small,  and  red-haired,  and  that 
they  lived  in  the  caves.  The  Finns,  he  said,  were 
even  smaller,  dark  yellow  people. 

*  "  Ogygia,"  part  iii.,  chap.  xii. 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL 


77 


Near  Loughros  Bay  I  saw  the  Cashel  na  Fian, 
but  whether  it  was  built  by  tall  or  small  Finns  I 
do  not  know.  Part  of  the  wall  was  standing,  built 
in  the  usual  fashion  with  stones  without  mortar. 

This  cashel  was  on  a  height,  and  near  it  I  was 
shown  some  old  fields,  the  ridges  farther  apart  than 
those  of  the  present  day,  and  I  was  told  they  might 
be  the  fields  of  those  who  built  the  cashel,  or  per- 
haps of  the  Firbolgs.  The  old  man  who  acted  as 
my  guide  softened  the  b  in  the  Irish  manner,  and 
spoke  of  those  people  as  the  Firwolgs ;  he  said  they 
were  short  and  stout,  and  cultivated  the  lands 
near  the  sea. 

To  the  Danes  are  ascribed  the  kitchen-middens 
on  Rosguill,  and  the  lad  I  met  above  Gortnalughoge 
Bay,  told  me  they  lived  and  had  their  houses  on 
the  water,  I  should  infer  after  the  fashion  of  the 
lake-dwellers.  He  could  not  tell  me  the  height  of 
these  Danes,  but  those  who  built  the  forts  and 
cashels  have  often  been  described  to  me  as  short 
and  red-haired.  As  I  have  stated  on  former  occa- 
sions, I  should  be  inclined  to  identify  these  short 
Danes  with  the  Tuatha  de  Danann.  I  visited  one 
of  their  cashels  above  Dungiven,  under  which  there 
is  a  souterrain,  and  I  also  went  to  one  on  a  hill 
above  Downey's  pier  at  Rosapenna.  I  believe  it  is 
the  Downey's  Fort  marked  on  the  Ordnance  Survey 
map.  It  appeared  to  be  regarded  as  an  uncanny 
spot;  treasure  is  said  to  be  hidden  under  it,  and  I 
had  a  difficulty  in  getting  anyone  to  take  me  to 
it.    A  little  girl,  however,  acted  as  guide,  and  a 


78 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


young  farmer,  who  had  at  first  refused,  joined  me 
on  the  top.  I  took  some  very  rough  measurements 
of  this  cashel.  From  the  outer  circumference  it 
was  about  60  by  60  feet;  the  walls  had  fallen 
inwards,  so  it  was  impossible  to  say  how  thick  they 
had  been  originally,  but  the  space  free  from  stones 
in  the  centre  measured  about  25  by  25  feet. 

The  young  farmer  told  me  of  some  rocks  at  a 
place  he  called  Dooey,  on  which  crosses  were  in- 
scribed. I  believe  that  near  Mevagh,  in  addition 
to  the  spiral  markings,  which  were  visited  by  many 
members  of  the  Conference,  there  is  another  rock 
on  which  crosses  are  also  inscribed. 

Firbolgs,  Danes,  Finns,  and  Pechts,  of  whom  I 
have  spoken  on  former  occasions,  are  all  strictly 
human;  and  if  the  fairy  has  been  more  spiritualized, 
I  think,  in  many  of  the  traditions,  we  may  see 
how  closely  he  is  allied  to  ancient  and  modern 
pygmies. 

Fairies  intermarry  freely  with  the  human  race; 
they  are  not  exempt  from  death,  and  sometimes 
come  to  a  violent  end.  At  Kincasslagh  a  graphic 
story  was  told  me  by  an  old  woman  of  how  two 
banshees  attacked  a  man  when  he  was  crossing  the 

banks  "  at  Mullaghderg.  His  faithful  dog  had 
been  chained  at  home,  but,  knowing  the  danger, 
escaped,  saved  his  master,  and  killed  one  of  the 
banshees.  Her  body  was  found  next  morning  in 
the  sand:  she  had  wonderful  eyes,  small  legs,  and 
very  large  feet.  I  may  mention  that  large  feet  are 
characteristic  of  the  Pechts. 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL 


79 


It  is  true  that  those  who  are  drowned  may  become 
fairies,  but  if  a  fisherman  be  missing,  who  shall  say 
whether  he  hes  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  or  has 
been  carried  captive  to  a  lonely  cave.  In  later  times, 
when  the  fairies  were  associated  with  fallen  angels, 
one  who  had  not  received  the  last  rites  of  the  Church 
might  naturally  be  supposed  to  become  a  fairy. 

In  the  tales  of  the  giants  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  beings  of  great  strength,  but  in  a  low 
stage  of  civilization.  Balor,  we  have  seen,  had  no 
smith  on  Tory  Island,  and  in  a  story  of  the  fight 
between  the  giant  Fargowan  and  a  wild  boar,  his 
sister  Finglas  goes  to  his  assistance  with  her  apron 
filled  with  stones.  Misled  by  the  echo,  she  jumps 
backwards  and  forwards  across  Lough  Finn  until  at 
last  her  long  hair  becomes  entangled  and  she  is 
drowned.  It  is  believed  that  her  coffin  was  found 
when  the  railway  was  being  made ;  the  boards  were 
14  feet  long.  Sometimes  the  works  of  Nature  are 
ascribed  to  the  giants ;  we  have  all  heard  of  Finn 
McCoul  as  the  artificer  of  the  Giant's  Causeway, 
and  near  Glenties  I  was  shown  perched  blocks, 
which  had  been  thrown  by  the  giants.  On  the 
other  hand,  these  giants,  with  all  their  magic,  are 
often  very  human ;  perhaps  we  are  listening  to  the 
tales  of  a  small  race,  who  exaggerated  the  feats  of 
their  large  but  savage  neighbours.  Writing  in 
i860,  J.  F.  Campbell,  in  his  introduction  to  the 
"  Tales  of  the  West  Highlands,"  says:  "  Probably, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  giants  are  simply  the  nearest 
savage  race  at  war  with  the  race  who  tell  the  tales. 


80 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


If  they  performed  impossible  feats  of  strength, 
they  did  no  more  than  Rob  Roy,  whose  putting- 
stone  is  now  shown  to  Saxon  tourists  ...  in  the 
shape  of  a  boulder  of  many  tons."*  Turning  to 
fairies,  the  same  writer  says:  "  I  believe  there  was 
once  a  small  race  of  people  in  these  islands,  who  are 
remembered  as  fairies.  .  .  .  They  are  always  repre- 
sented as  living  in  green  mounds.  They  pop  up 
their  heads  when  disturbed  by  people  treading  on 
their  houses.  They  steal  children.  They  seem  to 
live  on  familiar  terms  with  the  people  about  them 
when  they  treat  them  well,  to  punish  them  when 
they  ill-treat  them.  .  .  .  There  are  such  people  now. 
A  Lapp  is  such  a  man;  he  is  a  little  flesh-eating 
mortal,  having  control  over  the  beasts,  and  living 
in  a  green  mound,  when  he  is  not  living  in  a  tent  or 
sleeping  out  of  doors,  wrapped  in  his  deerskin  shirt. "f 
Since  these  words  were  written,  our  knowledge 
of  dwarf  races  has  been  greatly  increased;  their 
skeletons  have  been  found  in  Switzerland  and  other 
parts  of  Europe.  We  are  all  familiar  with  the 
pygmies  of  Central  Africa,  and  the  members  of  this 
Club  will  remember  the  interesting  photographs  of 
them  shown  by  Sir  Harry  Johnston.  Besides  the 
Andamnan  Islanders,  we  have  dwarf  races  in 
various  parts  of  Asia,  and  doubtless  we  have  all 
read  with  interest  the  account  of  the  New  Guinea 
dwarfs,  sent  by  the  members  of  the  British  Expedi- 
tion, who  are  investigating  that  Island  under  many 
difficulties. 


*  Pp.  xcix,  c. 


t  Pp.  c,  ci. 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL  81 


Dr.  Eric  Marshall  describes  these  pygmies  as 
"  averaging  four  feet  six  inches  to  four  feet  eight 
inches  in  height,  wild,  shy,  treacherous  little  devils ; 
these  little  men  wander  over  the  heavy  jungle-clad 
hills,  subsisting  on  roots  and  jungle  produce,  hunting 
the  wallaby,  pig,  and  cassowary,  and  fishing  in  the 
mountain  torrents.  .  .  .  The  only  metal  tool  they 
possessed  was  a  small ,  wedge-shaped  piece  of  iron ,  one 
inch  by  two  inches,  inserted  into  a  wooden  handle, 
and  answering  the  purpose  of  an  axe,  and  with  this 
the  whole  twenty-acre  clearing  had  been  made.  None 
but  those  who  have  worked  and  toiled  in  this  dense 
jungle  can  really  appreciate  the  perseverance  and 
patience  necessary  to  accomplish  this,  for  many  of 
the  trees  are  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  in  circum- 
ference."* 

Throughout  Donegal  we  find  many  traces  of  the 
primitive  belief  that  men  or  women  can  change 
themselves  into  animals.  At  Rosapenna  I  was 
told  of  a  hare  standing  on  its  hind-legs  like  an  old 
woman  and  sucking  a  cow,  the  inference  being 
plainly  that  the  witch  had  transformed  herself 
into  a  hare.  I  heard  similar  stories  at  Glenties. 
Here  I  was  told  of  a  man  who  killed  a  young  seal, 
but  was  startled  when  the  mother,  weeping,  cried 
out  in  Irish:  "  My  child,  my  child  !'*  Never  again 
did  he  kill  a  seal. 

A  story  illustrating  the  same  belief  is  told  by 

*  See  Morning  Post,  December  28,  1910.  In  his  work, 
"  Pygmies  and  Papuans,"  which  gives  the  results  of  this  expe- 
dition, Mr.  A.  F.  R.  Wollaston  also  describes  these  pygmies 
(see  especially  pp.  159- 161). 


82 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


John  Sweeney,  an  inspector  of  National  Schools, 
who  wrote  about  forty  years  ago  a  series  of  letters 
describing  Donegal  and  its  inhabitants  *  In  his 
account  of  Arranmore  he  says  :  Until  lately 
the  islanders  could  not  be  induced  to  attack  a 
seal,  they  being  strongly  under  the  impression 
that  these  animals  were  human  beings  meta- 
morphosed by  the  power  of  their  own  witchcraft. 
In  confirmation  of  this  notion,  they  used  to 
repeat  the  story  of  one  Rodgers  of  their  island, 
who,  being  alone  in  his  skiff  fishing,  was  over- 
taken by  a  storm,  and  driven  on  the  shore  of 
the  Scotch  Highlands.  Having  landed,  he  ap- 
proached a  house  which  was  close  to  the  beach, 
and  on  entering  it  was  accosted  by  name.  Ex- 
pressing his  surprise  at  finding  himself  known  in  a 
strange  country,  and  by  one  whom  he  had  never 
seen,  the  old  man  who  addressed  him  bared  his 
head,  and,  pointing  to  a  scar  on  his  skull,  reminded 
Rodgers  of  an  encounter  he  had  with  a  seal  in  one 
of  the  caves  of  Arranmore.  '  I  was,'  he  said, '  that 
seal,  and  this  is  the  mark  of  the  wound  you  inflicted 
on  me.  I  do  not  blame  you,  however,  for  you  were 
not  aware  of  what  you  were  doing.'  " 

I  fear  I  have  lingered  too  long  over  these 
old-world  stories.     To  me  they  point  to  a  far- 

*  I  was  shown  a  MS.  copy  of  some  of  these  letters  by  a 
relative  of  the  writer  at  Burtonport.  I  believe  they  were 
written  for  a  newspaper,  and  were  afterwards  republished  in 
"  The  Derry  People,"  under  the  title  "  The  Rosses  Thirty  Years 
Ago."  They  contain  much  interesting  information  in  regard 
to  the  traditions  current  among  the  peasantry. 


FOLKLORE  FROM  DONEGAL  8S 


distant  past,  when  Ulster  was  covered  with  forests, 
in  which  the  red  deer  and  perhaps  the  Irish  elk 
roamed,  and  inhabited  by  rude  tribes,  some  of  them 
of  dwarfish  stature,  others  tall;  but  these  giants 
were  apparently  even  less  civilized  than  their 
smaller  neighbours.  Wars  were  frequent;  the 
giant  could  hurl  the  unwieldy  mass  of  stone,  and 
the  dwarfish  man  could  send  his  arrow  tipped  with 
flint.  Even  more  common  was  the  stealthy  raid, 
when  women  and  children  were  carried  off  to  the 
gloomy  souterrain.  How  long  did  these  rude 
tribes  survive  ?  It  would  be  difficult  to  say ;  possibly 
until  after  the  days  of  St.  Patrick  and  St.  Colum- 
kill. 

I  will  not,  however,  indulge  in  a  fancy  sketch. 
The  pressing  need  is  not  to  interpret  but  to  collect 
these  old  tales.  The  antiquary  of  the  future,  with 
fuller  knowledge  at  his  command,  may  be  better 
able  to  decipher  them;  but  if  they  are  allowed  to 
perish,  one  link  with  the  past  will  be  irretrievably 
lost. 


Giants  and  Dwarfs* 

THE  population  of  Ulster  is  derived  from  many 
sources,  and  in  its  folklore  we  shall  find  traces 
of  various  tribes  and  people.  I  shall  begin  with  a  tale 
which  may  have  been  brought  by  English  settlers. 

In  "  Folklore  as  an  Historical  Science  "  Sir  G. 
Laurence  Gomme  has  given  several  variants  of  the 
story  of  the  Pedlar  of  Swaffham  and  London 
Bridge.  Most  of  these  come  from  England,  Scot- 
land, and  Wales,  but  among  them  there  are  also  a 
Breton  and  a  Norse  version.  I  have  found  a  local 
variant  in  Donegal.  An  elderly  woman  told  me 
that  at  Kinnagoe  a  toon  or  small  hamlet  about 
three  miles  from  Buncrana,  there  lived  a  man 
whose  name,  she  believed,  was  Doherty.  He 
dreamt  one  night  that  on  London  Bridge  he  should 
hear  of  a  treasure.  He  set  out  at  once  for  London, 
and  when  he  came  there  walked  up  and  down  the 
bridge  until  he  was  wearied.  At  last  a  man  ac- 
costed him  and  asked  him  why  he  loitered  there. 
In  reply,  Doherty  told  his  dream,  upon  which  the 
other  said :  Ah,  man  !  Do  you  believe  in  drames  ? 
Why,  I  dreamt  the  other  night  that  at  a  place  called 
Kinnagoe  a  pot  of  gold  is  buried.    Would  I  go  to 

*  Reprinted  from  the  Antiquary,  August,  19 13. 

84 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


85 


look  for  it  ?  I  might  loss  my  time  if  I  paid  atten- 
tion to  drames."  "  That's  true,"  answered  Do- 
herty,  who  now  hurried  home,  found  the  pot  of  gold, 
bought  houses  and  land,  and  became  a  wealthy  man . 

Whether  this  story  embodies  an  earlier  Irish 
legend  I  do  not  know,  but  I  should  say  that  the 
mention  of  London  Bridge  points  to  its  having 
been  brought  over  by  Enghsh  settlers.  Sir  G.  L. 
Gomme  tells  us  that  "  the  earhest  version  of  this 
legend  is  quoted  from  the  manuscripts  of  Sir  Roger 
Twysden,  who  obtained  it  from  Sir  William  Dug- 
dale,  of  Blyth  Hall,  in  Warwickshire,  in  a  letter 
dated  January  29,  1652-53.  Sir  William  says  of 
it  that  '  it  was  the  tradition  of  the  inhabitants,  as 
it  was  told  me  there.'  " 

May  not  some  of  the  planters  brought  over  by 
the  Irish  Society  have  carried  this  legend  from 
their  English  home,  giving  it  in  the  name  Kinnagoe 
a  local  habitation  ? 

Most  of  our  folklore  comes,  however,  from  a  very 
early  period.  Our  Irish  fairy,  although  regarded 
as  a  fallen  angel,  is  not  the  medieval  elf,  who  could 
sip  honey  from  a  flower,  but  a  small  old  man  or 
woman  with  magical  powers,  swift  to  revenge  an 
injury,  but  often  a  kindly  neighbour.  No  story  is 
told  more  frequently  than  that  of  the  old  fairy 
woman  who  borrows  a  "  noggin  "  of  meal,  repays  it 
honestly,  and  rewards  the  peasant  woman  by  saying 
that  her  kist  will  never  be  empty,  generally  adding 
the  condition  as  long  as  the  secret  is  kept.  The 
woman  usuall}^  observes  the  condition  until  her 


86 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


husband  becomes  too  inquisitive.  When  she 
reveals  the  secret  the  kist  is  empty. 

Another  widespread  tale  is  that  of  the  fairy 
woman  who  comes  to  the  peasant's  cottage,  some- 
times to  beg  that  water  may  not  be  thrown  out  at 
the  door,  as  it  comes  down  her  chimney  and  puts 
out  the  fire  ;  sometimes  to  ask,  for  a  similar  reason, 
that  the  "  byre,"  or  cowhouse,  may  be  removed  to 
another  site.  In  some  tales  it  is  a  fairy  man  who 
makes  the  request.  If  it  is  refused,  punishment 
follows  in  sickness  among  the  cattle;  if  complied 
with,  the  cows  flourish  and  give  an  extra  supply  of 
milk.  In  one  instance  the  "  wee  folk  "  provided 
money  to  pay  a  mason  to  build  the  new  cowhouse. 
We  may  smile,  and  ask  how  the  position  of  the  cow- 
house could  affect  the  homes  of  the  fairies;  but  if 
these  small  people  lived  in  the  souterrains,  as  tradi- 
tion alleges,  we  may  even  at  the  present  day  find 
these  artificial  caves  under  inhabited  houses.  At 
a  large  farmhouse  on  the  border  of  Counties  Antrim 
and  Londonderry  I  was  told  one  ran  under  the 
kitchen.  At  another  farm  near  Castlerock,  Co. 
Londonderry,  the  owner  opened  a  trapdoor  in 
his  yard,  and  allowed  me  to  look  down  into  a 
souterrain.  At  Finvoy,  Co.  Antrim,  I  was  shown 
one  of  these  caves  over  which  a  cottage  formerly 
stood.  A  souterrain  also  runs  under  the  Glebe 
House  at  Donaghmore,  Co.  Down.  The  following 
extract  is  from  a  work*  in  preparation,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Cowan,  Rector  of  the  parish,  who,  in 
*  "  An  Ancient  Irish  Parish,  Past  and  Present." 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


87 


describing  this  souterrain,  writes:  "  The  Hntel  to 
the  main  entrance  is  the  large  stone  which  forms 
the  base  of  the  old  Celtic  cross,  which  stands  a  few 
yards  south  of  the  church.  Underneath  the  cross 
is  the  central  chamber,  which  is  sixty-two  feet  long^ 
three  feet  wide  and  upwards  of  four  feet  high,  with 
branches  in  the  form  of  transepts  about  thirty  feet  in 
length.  From  these,  again,  several  sections  extend 
.  .  .  one  due  north  terminating  at  the  Glebe  House 
(a  distance  of  two  hundred  yards)  underneath  the 
study,  where,  according  to  tradition,  some  rich  old 
vicar  in  past  times  fashioned  the  extreme  end  into 
the  dimensions  of  a  wine-cellar." 

According  to  another  tradition — an  older  one,  no 
doubt — this  chamber  under  the  study  was  the 
dressing-room  of  the  small  Danes,  who  after  their 
toilet  proceeded  through  the  underground  passages 
to  church.  They  had  to  pass  through  man}^  little 
doors,  down  stairs,  through  parlours,  until  they 
came  to  the  great  chamber  under  the  cross  where 
the  minister  held  forth.  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
guess  to  what  old  faith  this  minister  or  priest 
belonged,  or  what  were  the  rites  he  celebrated  ; 
but  the  stairs  probably  represent  the  descent  from 
one  chamber  to  another,  and  the  little  doors  the 
bridges  found  in  some  souterrains,  and,  I  beheve, 
at  Donaghmore,  where  one  stone  juts  out  from  the 
floor,  and  a  little  farther  on  another  comes  down 
from  the  roof,  leaving  only  a  narrow  passage,  so  that 
one  must  creep  over  and  under  these  bridges  to 
get  to  the  end  of  the  cave. 


88 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


The  Danes  are  regarded  by  the  country  people 
as  distinctly  human,  and  yet  there  is  much  in  them 
that  reminds  us  of  the  fairies;  indeed,  I  was  told 
by  two  old  men — one  in  Co.  Antrim,  and  the  other 
in  Co.  Derry — that  they  and  the  wee-folk  are  much 
the  same.  In  a  former  paper*  I  referred  to  the 
difference  in  dress  ascribed  to  the  fairies  in  various 
parts  of  the  country.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
this  indicates  a  variety  of  tribes  among  the  abo- 
riginal inhabitants.  In  the  fairies  who  dress  in 
green  may  we  not  have  a  tradition  of  people  who 
stained  themselves  with  woad  or  some  other 
plant  ?  These  fairies  are  chiefly  heard  of  in  North- 
East  Antrim.  In  some  parts  of  that  county  they 
are  said  to  wear  tartan,  but  in  other  parts  of  Ulster 
the  fairies  are  usually,  although  not  universally, 
described  as  dressing  in  red.  Do  these  represent  a 
people  who  dyed  themselves  with  red  ochre,  or 
who  simply  went  naked  ?  In  Tory  Island  I  was 
told  the  fairies  dressed  in  black  ;  and  Keating 
informs  us  that  the  Fomorians,  who  had  their 
headquarters  at  Toirinis,  or  Tory  Island,  were 
"  sea-rovers  of  the  race  of  Cam,  who  fared  from 
Africa."t 

Stories  of  the  fairies  or  wee-folk  are  to  be  found 
everywhere  in  Ulster,  and  the  Danes  are  also  uni- 
versally known;  but  one  hears  of  the  Pechts, 
chiefly  in  the  north-east  of  Antrim,  where  the 

*  See  Ulster  Fairies,  Danes,  and  Pechts,  p.  27. 
t  Keating,  "  History  of  Ireland,"  book  i.,  chap.  viii.  (trans- 
lation by  P.  W.  Joyce,  LL.D.,  M.R.I.A.).    See  ante,  p.  60. 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


89 


Grogach  is  also  known.  The  following  story  was 
told  to  me  in  Glenariff,  Co.  Antrim  : 

A  Grogach  herded  the  cattle  of  a  farmer,  and 
drove  them  home  in  the  evening.  He  was  about 
the  size  of  a  child,  and  was  naked.  A  fire  was  left 
burning  at  night  so  that  he  might  warm  himself, 
and  after  a  time  the  daughter  of  the  house  made 
him  a  shirt.  When  the  Grogach  saw  this  he 
thought  it  was  a  "  billet  "  for  him  to  go,  and,  crying 
bitterly,  he  took  his  departure,  and  left  the  shirt 
behind  him.  As  I  pointed  out  on  a  former  occa- 
sion,* in  many  respects  the  Grogach  resembles  the 
Swiss  dwarf.  The  likeness  to  the  Brownie  is  also 
very  marked.  At  Ballycastle  I  was  told  the  Gro- 
gach was  a  hairy  man  about  four  feet  in  height, 
who  could  bear  heat  or  cold  without  clothing. 

Patrick  Kennedy  has  described  a  Gruagach  as  a 
giant,  and  states  that  the  word  "  Gruagach  "  has  for 
root  gruach — "  hair,"  giants  and  magicians  being 
furnished  with  a  large  provision  of  that  appen- 
dage, "t  This  Gruagach  was  closely  related  to  the 
fairies,  and,  indeed,  we  shall  find  later  in  a  Donegal 
story  a  giant  ogress  spoken  of  as  a  fairy  woman. 
In  Scotland,  as  well  as  in  the  South  of  Ireland,  the 
name  is  Gruagach,  but  in  Antrim  I  heard  it  pro- 
nounced "  Grogach."  I  was  also  told  near  Cushen- 
dall  that  the  Danes  were  hairy  people. 

One  does  not  hear  so  much  about  giants  in  An- 

*  Sec  Traditions  of  Dwarf  Races  in  Ireland  and  in  Switzer- 
land, pp.  50-52. 

t  "  Legendary  Fictions  of  the  Irish  Celts,"  second  edition, 
p.  123  note. 


90 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


trim  as  in  Donegal,  but  in  Glenarijff  I  was  told  of 
four,  one  of  whom  lifted  a  rock  at  Ballycastle  and 
threw  it  across  the  sea  to  Rathlin — a  distance  of  five 
or  six  miles.  Great  as  this  feat  was,  a  still  greater  was 
reported  to  me  near  Armoy,*  where  I  was  shown  a 
valley,  and  was  told  the  earth  had  been  scooped 
out  and  thrown  into  the  sea,  where  it  formed  the 
Island  of  Rathhn. 

The  grave  of  the  giant  Gig-na-Gog  is  to  be  seen 
some  miles  from  Portrush  on  the  road  to  Beardi- 
ville.t  I  could  not,  however,  hear  anything  of 
Gig-na-Gog,  except  that  he  was  a  giant. 

In  the  stories  of  giants  we  no  doubt  often  have 
traditions  of  a  tall  race,  who  are  sometimes  repre- 
sented as  of  inferior  mental  capacity.  At  other 
times  we  appear  to  be  listening  to  an  early  inter- 
pretation of  the  works  of  Nature.  The  Donegal 
peasant  at  the  present  day  believes  that  the  perched 
block  on  the  side  of  the  hill  has  been  thrown  by  the 
arm  of  a  giant.  In  the  compact  columns  of  the 
Giant's  Causeway  and  of  Fingal's  Cave  at  Staff  a 
primitive  man  saw  a  work  of  great  skill  and  in- 
genuity, which  he  attributed  to  a  giant  artificer; 
and  Finn  McCoul  is  credited  with  having  made  a 
stupendous  mole,  uniting  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
This  Finn  McCoul  has  many  aspects.    He  does  not 

*  A  village  about  six  miles  from  Ballycastle,  where  there  is 
a  round  tower. 

t  It  is  referred  to  in  the  "  Guide  to  Belfast  and  the  Adjacent 
Counties,"  by  the  Belfast  Naturalists*  Field  Club,  1874, 
pp.  205,  206;  also  by  Borlase  in  "  Dolmens  of  Ireland,"  vol.  i., 
p.  371- 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


91 


show  to  much  advantage  in  the  following  legend, 
which  I  heard  on  the  banks  of  Lough  Salt  in 
Donegal :  Finn  was  a  giant  but  there  was  a  bigger 
giant  named  Goll,  who  came  to  fight  Finn,  and 
Finn  was  afraid.  His  wife  bade  him  creep  into 
the  cradle,  and  she  would  give  an  answer  to  Goll. 
When  the  latter  appeared,  he  asked  where  was 
Finn.  The  wife  repUed  he  was  out,  and  she  was 
alone  with  the  baby  in  the  cradle.  Goll  looked  at 
the  child,  and  thought,  if  that  is  the  size  of  Finn's 
infant,  what  must  Finn  himself  be  ?  and  without 
more  ado  he  turned  and  took  his  departure.* 
This  Finn  had  an  eye  at  the  back  of  his  head,  and 
was  so  tall  his  feet  came  out  at  the  door  of  his 
house.  We  are  not  told,  however,  what  was  the 
size  of  the  house. 

In  this  tale  Finn  shows  little  courage,  but  as  a 
rule  he  is  represented  as  a  noted  hero.  I  was  told 
a  long  story  at  Glenties  in  Donegal  of  the  three 
sons  Finn  had  by  the  Queen  of  Italy.    He  had 

*  A  similar  tale,  but  with  more  details,  is  related  of  Finn  by 
William  Carleton.  It  was  first  published  in  Chambers'  Edin- 
burgh Journal  in  January,  1841,  with  the  title,  "  A  Legend  of 
Knockmary,"  and  was  reprinted  in  Carleton 's  collected  works 
under  the  title  "  A  Legend  of  Knockmany."  It  is  given  by 
Mr.  W.  B.  Yeates  in  his  "  Irish  Fairy  and  Folk  Tales."  In 
Carleton's  tale  Finn's  opponent  is  not  Goll,  but  Cuchullin.  In 
the  notes  first  published  in  Chambers'  Journal  reference  is, 
however,  made  to  Scotch  legends  about  Finn  McCoul  and 
Gaul,  the  son  of  Morni,  whom  I  take  to  be  the  same  as  Goll. 
A  version  of  the  story  is  also  given  by  Patrick  Kennedy  in 
"  Legendary  Fictions  of  the  Irish  Celts,"  under  the  title 
"  Fann  MacCuil  and  the  Scotch  Giant,"  pp.  1 79-181.  This 
Scotch  giant  is  named  Far  Rua,  and  the  fort  to  which  he 
journeys  is  in  the  bog  of  Allen. 


92 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


seen  her  bathing  in  Ireland,  and  he  stole  her 
clothes,  so  she  had  to  stay  until  she  could  get  them 
back.  After  a  time  she  found  them,  and  returned 
to  her  own  country,  where  she  gave  birth  to  three 
sons — Dubh,  Kian,  and  Glasmait.  When  they 
were  fourteen  years  of  age  the  King  of  Italy  sent 
them  away  that  they  might  go  to  their  father  Finn . 

They  arrived  in  Ireland,  and  when  Finn  saw 
them  he  said:  "  If  those  three  be  the  sons  of  a 
King,  they  will  come  straight  on;  if  not,  they  will 
ask  their  way/'  The  lads  came  straight  on,  knelt 
before  Finn,  and  claimed  him  as  their  father.  He 
asked  them  who  was  their  mother,  and  when  they 
said  the  Queen  of  Italy,  Finn  remembered  the 
stolen  clothes,  and  received  them  as  his  sons. 

One  day  the  followers  of  Finn  could  not  find  his 
dividing  knife,  and  Dubh  determined  to  go  in  search 
of  it.  He  put  a  stick  in  the  fire,  and  said  he  would 
be  back  before  the  third  of  it  was  burnt  out.  He 
followed  tracks,  and  came  to  a  house  where  there 
was  a  great  feast.  He  sat  down  among  the  men, 
and  saw  they  were  cutting  with  Finn's  knife.  It 
was  passed  from  one  to  another  until  it  came  to 
Dubh,  who,  holding  it  in  his  hand,  sprang  up  and 
carried  it  off. 

When  Dubh  got  home  he  wakened  Kian  and 
said:  My  third  of  the  stick  is  burnt,  and  now  do 
you  see  what  you  can  do."  Kian  followed  the 
tracks,  and  got  to  the  same  place.  He  found  the 
men  drinking  out  of  a  horn.  One  called  for 
whisky,  another  for  wine,  and  whatever  was  asked. 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


98 


the  horn  gave.  Kian  heard  them  say  it  was  Finn's 
horn,  and  that  his  knife  had  been  carried  off  the 
previous  night.  Kian  waited,  and  when  the  horn 
came  he  grasped  it  tightly  and  ran  off  home,  where 
he  found  his  third  of  the  stick  was  burnt.  He 
waked  Glasmait,  and  told  him  two-thirds  of  the 
night  had  passed,  and  it  was  now  his  turn  to  go  out. 
Glasmait  followed  the  same  tracks,  but  when  he 
came  to  the  house  blood  was  flowing  from  the  door, 
and,  looking  in,  he  saw  the  place  full  of  corpses. 
One  man  only  remained  alive.  He  told  Glasmait 
how  they  had  all  been  drinking  when  someone  ran 
off  with  Finn  McCoul's  horn.  "  One  man  blamed 
another,"  he  said;  "  they  quarrelled  and  fought 
until  everyone  was  killed  except  myself.  Now  I 
beseech  you  throw  the  ditch*  upon  me  and  bury 
me.  I  do  not  wish  to  be  devoured  by  the  fairy 
woman,  who  will  soon  be  here.  She  is  an  awful 
size,  and  upon  her  back  is  bound  Finn  McCoul's 
sword  of  light,!  which  gives  to  its  possessor  the 
strength  of  a  hundred  men."  The  man  gave  Glas- 
mait some  hints  to  aid  him  in  the  coming  fight, 
and  added:  "  Now  I  have  told  you  all,  bury  me 
quick." 

Glasmait  threw  the  ditch  upon  him,  and  hid 
himself  in  a  corner.  The  Banmore,  or  large  woman, 
now  came  in,  and  began  her  horrible  repast.  She 
chose  the  fat  men;  three  times  she  lifted  Glasmait, 

*  In  Ireland  "  ditch  "  is  used  for  an  earth  fence. 

t  Claive  Solus  was  the  name  given  to  it  by  the  old  woman, 
who  narrated  the  story,  and  she  translated  it  "  sword  of 
light." 


94 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


but  rejected  him  as  too  young  and  lean.  At  last 
she  lay  down  to  sleep.  Glasmait  followed  the 
advice  he  had  received.  He  touched  her  foot,  but 
jumped  aside  to  avoid  the  kick.  He  touched  her 
hand,  but  jumped  aside  to  avoid  her  slap.  When 
she  was  again  asleep,  he  drew  his  sword  and  cut 
the  cords  which  bound  the  sword  of  light  to  her 
back,  and  seized  upon  it.  She  roused  herself,  and 
for  two  hours  they  fought,  until  in  the  end  Glasmait 
ripped  open  her  body,  when,  behold,  three  red- 
haired  boys  sprang  out  and  attacked  him.  He 
slew  two  of  them,  but  the  third  escaped.  Glasmait 
returned  home  with  the  sword  of  light,  and  found 
his  third  of  the  stick  burnt. 

The  three  sons  now  presented  their  father  with 
the  dividing  knife,  the  drinking  horn,  and  the 
sword  of  light,  and  there  was  great  rejoicing  that 
these  had  been  recovered. 

Some  time  after  this  a  red-haired  boy  appeared, 
and  begged  to  be  taken  into  Finn's  service  for  a 
twelvemonth,  saying  he  could  kill  birds  and  do  any 
kind  of  work.  When  asked  what  wages  he  looked 
for,  he  rephed  that  he  hoped  when  he  died,  Finn 
and  his  men  would  put  his  body  in  a  cart,  which 
would  come  for  it,  and  bury  him  where  the  cart 
stopped. 

The  red-haired  boy  worked  well,  but  at  the  end 
of  the  year  he  suddenly  died.  A  cart  drawn  by  a 
horse  appeared,  and  Finn  and  his  men  tried  to 
place  the  body  in  it;  but  it  could  not  be  moved 
until  the  horse  wheeled  round  and  did  the  work 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


95 


itself,  starting  immediately  afterwards  with  its 
load.  Finn  and  his  men  followed,  but  a  great  mist 
came  on,  so  that  they  could  not  see  clearly.  At 
last  they  arrived  at  an  old,  black  castle  standing 
in  a  glen.  Here  they  found  the  table  laid,  and  sat 
down  to  eat,  but  before  long  the  red-haired  boy 
appeared  alive,  and  cried  vengeance  upon  Finn  and 
his  sons.  The  men  tried  to  draw  their  swords,  but 
found  them  fastened  to  the  ground,  and  the  red- 
haired  boy  cut  off  fifty  heads. 

Now,  however,  the  great  Manannan  appeared. 
He  bade  the  red-haired  boy  drop  his  sword,  or  he 
would  give  him  a  slap  that  would  turn  his  face  to 
the  back  of  his  head.  He  also  bade  him  replace 
the  heads  on  the  fifty  men.  The  red-haired  boy 
had  to  submit,  and  after  that  he  troubled  Finn  no 
more.  Manannan  dispelled  the  mist,  and  brought 
Finn  and  his  men  back  to  their  own  home,  where 
they  feasted  for  three  days  and  three  nights. 

This  somewhat  gruesome  story  contains  several 
points  of  interest.  The  stealing  of  the  clothes  is 
an  incident  which  occurs  with  slight  variations  in 
many  folk-tales.  In  "  The  Stolen  Veil  "*  Musaus 
tells  us  how  the  damsel  of  fairy  lineage  was  detained 
when  her  veil  was  carried  off,  and  it  was  only  after 
she  had  recovered  it  that  she  was  able,  in  the  guise 
of  a  swan,  to  return  to  her  home. 

We  have  read,  too,  of  how  the  Shetlander  cap- 

*  Sec  J.  K.  A.  Musaus,  "  Volksmahrchen  der  Deutschen," 
edited  by  J.  L.  Klee  (Leipzig,  1842) ;  "  Der  geraubte  Schleier," 
pp.  371-4^9- 


96 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


tured  the  sealskin  of  the  Finn  woman,  without 
which  she  could  not  return  as  a  seal  to  her  hus- 
band.* It  should  also  be  noted  that  the  fairy 
ogress  is  a  large  woman,  apparently  a  giantess, 
while  her  three  sons  have  the  red  hair  so  often 
associated  with  the  fairies.  At  the  end  of  the  tale 
Finn  and  his  men  are  saved  by  Manannan,  the 
Celtic  god  of  the  sea,  who  has  given  his  name  to 
the  Isle  of  Man.  In  Balor  of  Tory  Island  the  great 
Fomorian  chief,  we  have  another  giant,  with  an 
eye  at  the  back  of  his  head,  which  dealt  destruction 
to  all  who  encountered  its  gaze.  I  was  told  in 
Tory  Island  that  when  Balor  was  mortally  wounded 
water  fell  so  copiously  from  his  eye  that  it  formed 
the  biggest  lough  in  the  world,  deeper  even  than 
Lough  Foyle.f 

These  giants  belonged  to  an  olden  time  and  a 
very  primitive  race.  They  have  passed  away,  and 
are  no  longer  like  the  fairies — objects  of  fear  or 
awe. 

The  fairies,  being  believed  to  be  fallen  angels, 
are  especially  dreaded  on  Hallow  Eve  night.  In 
some  places  oatmeal  and  salt  are  put  on  the  heads 
of  the  children  to  protect  them  from  harm.  I  first 
heard  of  this  custom  in  the  valley  of  the  Roe, 
where  there  are  a  large  number  of  forts  said  to 

*  See  "The  Testimony  of  Tradition"  (London,  1890, 
pp.  1-25),  by  Mr.  David  MacRitchie,  F.S.A.Scot.;  also  by  the 
same  author,  "  The  Aberdeen  Kayak  and  its  Congeners."  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland,  vol.  xlvi. 
(1911-12),  pp.  213-241.  Mr.  MacRitchie  believes  that  the 
magic  sealskin  was  a  Kayak,  t  See  p.  75. 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


97 


be  inhabited  by  the  fairies.  The  neighbourhood 
of  Dungiven  on  that  river  is  rich  in  antiquities. 
I  was  told  there  was  a  souterrain  under  the 
Cashel  or  "  White  Fort,"  said  to  have  been  built 
by  the  Danes.  There  is  another  under  Carnanban 
Fort,  and  not  far  from  this  there  are  the  stone 
circles  at  Aghlish.  An  old  woman  of  ninety-six 
showed  them  to  me,  and  said  it  was  a  very  gentle* 
place,  and  it  would  not  be  safe  to  take  away  one 
of  the  stones. 

Here  we  have  an  instance  of  the  strong  belief 
that  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  stone,  tree,  or 
fort,  belonging  to  the  fairies  is  certain  to  bring 
disaster.  About  sixty-five  years  ago,  when  the 
railway  was  being  made  between  Belfast  and  Bally- 
mena,  an  old  fort  with  fairy  bushes  in  the  townland 
of  Lenagh  stood  on  the  intended  track,  and  had 
to  be  removed.  The  men  working  on  the  line 
were  most  unwilling  to  meddle  with  either  fort  or 
bushes.  One,  however,  braver  than  the  rest  began 
to  cut  down  a  thorn,  when  he  met  with  an  accident 
which  strengthened  the  others  in  their  refusal.  In 
the  end  the  fort  had  to  be  blown  up,  I  believe  by 
the  officials  of  the  railway,  and  underneath  it  a 
very  fine  spearhead  and  other  implements  were 
found -t 

A  fort  near  Glasdrumman,  Co.  Down,  was  de- 
molished by  the  owner,  but  the  country  -  people 
*  Fairy-haunted. 

t  This  spearhead  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Robert  Bell,  a 
member  of  the  Belfast  Naturalists'  Field  Club,  from  whom  I 
heard  this  narrative. 

7 


98 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


noted  that  the  man  who  struck  the  first  blow  was 
injured  and  died  soon  afterwards,  while  the  owner 
himself  became  a  permanent  invalid.  A  woman 
living  near  this  fort  related  that  in  the  evening 
after  the  work  was  begun  she  heard  an  awful 
screech  from  the  fort;  presumably  the  fairies  were 
leaving  their  home. 

A  curious  story  was  told  me  by  an  old  woman  in 
the  Cottage  Hospital  at  Cushendall.  A  man  at 
Glenravel  named  M'Combridge  went  out  one  even- 
ing to  look  for  his  heifer,  but  could  not  find  it.  He 
saw  a  great  house  in  one  of  his  fields,  where  no 
house  had  been  before,  and,  wondering  much  at 
this,  he  went  in.  An  old  woman  sat  by  the  fire, 
and  soon  two  men  came  in  leading  the  heifer. 
They  killed  it  with  a  blow  on  the  head  and  put  it 
into  a  pot.  M'Combridge  was  too  much  afraid  to 
make  any  objection;  he  rose,  however,  to  leave 
the  house,  but  the  old  woman  said:  "  Wait;  you 
must  have  some  of  the  broth  of  your  own  heifer." 
Three  times  she  made  him  partake  of  the  broth, 
and  he  was  then  unable  to  leave  the  house.  She 
put  him  to  bed,  and  the  man  gave  birth  to  a 
son.  He  fell  asleep,  but  was  wakened  by  some- 
thing touching  his  ear,  and  found  himself  on  the 
grass  near  his  home,  and  the  heifer  close  to  his 
ear. 

This  fantastic  story  no  doubt  represents  a  dream, 
but  does  it  contain  a  reminiscence  of  the  couvade, 
where,  after  the  birth  of  the  child,  the  father  goes 
to  bed  ?     Sir  E.  B.  Tylor,  in  the  "  Early  History 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS 


99 


of  Mankind,"  has  shown  how  widespread  this 
custom  was  both  in  the  Old  and  the  New 
World. 

In  these  stories,  drawn  from  various  parts  of 
Ulster,  we  seem  to  hear  echoes  of  a  very  distant 
past.  The  giants  often  appear  as  savages  of  low 
intelligence.  In  the  fairies,  I  think,  we  may  plainly 
see  a  tradition  of  a  dwarf  race,  although  it  is  true 
that  the  country-people  do  not  regard  them  as 
human  beings;  indeed,  I  was  told  in  Co.  Tyrone 
that  when  the  fairies  were  annoying  a  man  he 
threw  his  handkerchief  at  them,  and  asked  if 
among  them  all  they  could  show  one  drop  of  blood. 
This,  being  spirits,  they  could  not  do.  In  the 
Grogach  the  human  element  is  more  pronounced, 
and  both  Danes  and  Pechts  are  usually  regarded 
as  men  and  women  like  ourselves,  although  of 
smaller  stature.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  in  Ulster 
we  have  traditions  of  giants,  fairies,  Grogachs, 
Danes,  and  Pechts ;  and  in  Donegal  I  was  also  told 
of  a  small  race  of  yellow  Finns.  Can  we  identify 
any  of  these  with  the  prehistoric  races  of  the 
British  Isles  and  of  Europe  ? 

It  has  been  held  by  many  that  the  relics  of 
Palaeohthic  man  do  not  occur  in  Ireland,  but  the 
Rev.  Frederick  Smith  has  found  his  implements, 
some  of  them  glaciated,  at  Killiney*  ;  and  Mr.  Lewis 
Abbott,  who  has  made  the  implements  of  early 
man  a  special  study,  believes  that  Palaeolithic  man 

*  "  The  Stone  Age  in  North  Britain  and  Ireland,"  by  the 
Rev.  Frederick  Smith,  Appendix,  p.  396. 


100 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


lived  and  worked  in  Ireland.  In  a  letter  to  me  he 
states  that  this  opinion  is  based  on  material  in  his 
possession.  "  I  have,"  he  writes,  "  the  Irish  collec- 
tion of  my  old  friend,  the  late  Professor  Rupert 
Jones;  in  this  there  are  many  immensely  meta- 
morphosed, deeply  iron-stained  (and  the  iron,  again, 
in  turn  further  altered),  implements  of  Palaeolithic 
types.  .  .  .  They  are  usually  very  lustrous  or 
highly  *  patinated,'  as  it  is  called."  In  his  recent 
paper,  "  On  the  Classification  of  the  British  Stone 
Age  Industries,"*  in  describing  the  club  studs,  Mr. 
Abbott  writes:  **  I  have  found  very  fine  examples 
in  the  Cromer  Forest  bed,  and  under  and  in 
various  glacial  deposits  in  England  and  Ireland." 
How  long  Palseohthic  man  survived  in  Ireland  it 
would  be  difficult  to  say,  but  in  such  characters  as 
the  fairy  ogress  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with 
a  very  low  form  of  savagery.  It  will  be  noted  that 
her  sons  are  red-haired.  Now,  I  have  often  found 
red  hair  ascribed  to  fairies  and  Danes,  but  not  to 
Pechts.  This  persistent  tradition  has  led  me  to 
ask  whether  red  was  the  colour  of  the  hair  in  some 
early  races  of  mankind.  The  following  passage  in 
Dr.  Beddoe's  Huxley  Lecture!  favours  an  affirma- 
tive answer:  "  There  are,  of  course,  facts,  or  re- 
ported facts,  which  would  lead  one  to  suspect  that 
red  was  the  original  hair  colour  of  man  in  Europe — 
at  least,  when  living  in  primitive  or  natural  con- 

*  See  Journal  of  the  Royal  Anthropological  Institute,  vol.  xli., 
1911,  p.  462. 

t  "  Colour  and  Race,"  delivered  before  the  Anthropological 
Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  October  31,  1905. 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS  101 


ditions  with  much  exposure,  and  that  the  develop- 
ment of  brown  pigment  came  later,  with  sub- 
jection to  heat  and  malaria,  and  other  influences 
connected  with  what  we  call  '  civilisation.'  " 

We  have  seen  that  the  implements  of  early  man 
are  found  in  spots  sacred  to  the  fairies.  The  Rev. 
Gath  Whitley  considers  the  Piskey  dwarfs  the 
earUest  NeoHthic  inhabitants  of  Cornwall,  and  de- 
scribes them  as  a  small  race  who  hunted  the  elk 
and  the  deer,  and  perhaps,  like  the  Bushmen, 
danced  and  sang  to  the  light  of  the  moon.*  Our 
traditional  Irish  fairies  bear  a  strong  resemblance 
to  these  Piskey  dwarfs  of  Cornwall,  and  also  to  the 
Welsh  fairies  of  whom  Sir  John  Rhys  writes  that 
when  fairyland  is  cleared  of  its  glamour  there  seems 
to  be  disclosed  "  a  swarthy  population  of  short, 
stumpy  men,  occupying  the  most  inaccessible  dis- 
tricts of  our  country.  .  .  .  They  probably  fished 
and  hunted  and  kept  domestic  animals,  including, 
perhaps,  the  pig,  but  they  depended  largely  on  what 
they  could  steal  at  night  or  in  misty  weather. 
Their  thieving,  however,  was  not  resented,  as  their 
visits  were  believed  to  bring  luck  and  prosperity. "f 
This  description  might  apply  to  our  Ulster  fairies, 
who  in  many  of  the  stories  appear  as  a  very  primi- 
tive people.  In  some  of  the  tales,  however,  the 
fairies  are  represented  in  a  higher  state  of  civilisa- 
tion.   They  can  spin  and  weave ;  they  inhabit 

♦  "  Footprints  of  Vanished  Races  in  Cornwall,"  by  the 
Rev.  D.  Gath  Whitle3%  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
Institution  of  Cornwall,  1903,  vol.  xv.,  part  ii.,  p.  283. 

t  "  Celtic  Folklore,"  vol.  ii.,  chap,  xii.,  pp.  668,  669 


102 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


underground  but  well-built  houses,  and  in  the  Irish 
records  they  are  closely  associated  with  the  Tuatha 
de  Danann. 

I  believe  these  Tuatha  de  Danann  are  the  small 
Danes,  who,  according  to  tradition,  built  the  raths 
and  souterrains.  The  late  Mr.  John  Gray*  would 
ascribe  a  Mongoloid  origin  to  them.  In  a  letter 
written  to  me  shortly  before  his  death  he  stated 
his  behef  that  the  Danes  and  Pechts  were  of  the 
same  race,  and  were  identical  with  a  short,  round- 
headed  race  which  migrated  into  the  British  Isles 
about  2,000  B.C.  at  the  beginning  of  the  Bronze  Age. 
.  .  .  The  stature  of  these  primitive  Danes  and 
Pechts  was  five  feet  three  inches,  and  they  must 
have  looked  very  small  men  to  the  later  Teutonic 
invaders  of  an  average  stature  of  five  feet  eight 
and  a  half  inches." 

In  his  papers,  "  Who  built  the  British  Stone 
Circles  ?"t  and  "  The  Origin  of  the  Devonian 
Race,"t  Mr.  Gray  has  fully  described  this  round- 
headed  race,  who  buried  in  short  cists,  and  whom 
he  believes  to  have  been  a  colony  from  Asia  Minor 
of  Akkadians,  Sumerians,  or  Hittites,  who  migrated 
to  England  by  sea  in  order  to  work  the  Cornish 
tin-mines  and  the  Welsh  copper-mines. 

For  a  fuller  exposition  of  these  views  I  must  refer 
the  reader  to  Mr.  Gray's  very  interesting  articles. 

*  Treasurer  to  the  Anthropological  Institute. 

t  Read  before  Section  H  of  the  British  Association  at  the 
Dublin  Meeting,  September,  1908,  published  in  Nature, 
December  24,  1908,  pp.  236-238. 

X  Published  in  London  Devonian  Year-Book,  1910. 


GIANTS  AND  DWARFS  lOS 


In  regard  to  the  Tuatha  de  Danann,  according  to 
Keating,*  they  came  from  Greece  by  way  of  Scan- 
dinavia. This  might  lead  us  to  infer  a  northern 
origin,  or,  at  least,  that  they  had  taken  a  different 
route  from  those  who  came  by  the  Mediterranean 
to  the  West  of  Europe.  They  appear  to  have 
known  the  use  of  metals  and  to  have  ploughed  the 
land. 

Dr.  O'Donovan,  in  writing  of  these  Tuatha  de 
Danann,  says:  "  From  the  many  monuments 
ascribed  to  this  colony  by  tradition  and  in  ancient 
Irish  historical  tales,  it  is  quite  evident  that  they 
were  a  real  people,  and  from  their  having  been  con- 
sidered gods  and  magicians  by  the  Gaedhil  or 
Scoti  who  subdued  them,  it  may  be  inferred  that 
they  were  skilled  in  arts  which  the  latter  did  not 
understand."  Referring  to  the  colloquy  between 
St.  Patrick  and  Caoilte  MacRonain,  Dr.  O'Donovan 
says  that  it  appears  from  this  ancient  Irish  text 
that  "  there  were  very  many  places  in  Ireland 
where  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns  were  then  supposed 
to  live  as  sprites  or  fairies."  He  adds:  "  The  infer- 
ence naturally  to  be  drawn  from  these  stories  is 
that  the  Tuatha  de  Dananns  lingered  in  the  country 
for  many  centuries  after  their  subjugation  by  the 
Gaedhil,  and  that  they  lived  in  retired  situations, 
which  induced  others  to  regard  them  as  magicians."! 

What  is  here  averred  of  the  Tuatha  de  Danann 
may  be  true  of  other  primitive  races  who  may  have 

*  "  History  of  Ireland,"  book  i.,  chap.  x. 

t  See  "  Annals  of  the  Four  blasters,"  vol.  i.,  note  at  p.  24. 


104 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


survived  long  in  Ireland.  It  is  difficult  to  exter- 
minate a  people,  and  they  could  not  be  driven 
farther  west. 

It  appears  to  me  that  in  the  traditions  of  the 
Ulster  peasantry  we  see  indications  of  a  tall, 
savage  people,  and  of  various  races  of  small  men. 
Some  were  in  all  probability  veritable  dwarfs,  like 
those  whose  skeletons  have  been  found  in  Switzer- 
land, near  Schaffhausen.  Others  may  have  been 
of  the  stature  of  the  round-headed  race  described 
by  Mr.  John  Gray,  but  in  tradition  they  all — fairy, 
Grogach,  Pecht,  and  Dane — appear  as  little  people. 
In  these  tales  we  have  not  a  clear  outline — the 
picture  is  often  blurred — but  as  we  see  the  red- 
haired  Danes  carrying  earth  in  their  aprons  to  build 
the  forts,  the  Pechts  handing  from  one  to  another 
the  large  slabs  to  roof  the  souterrains,  and  the  Gro- 
gachs  herding  cattle,  we  catch  glimpses  of  the  life 
of  those  who  in  long  past  ages  inhabited  Ireland. 


The  Rev.  William  Hamilton,  D.D.* 


An  Early  Exponent  of  the  Volcanic  Origin  of  the 
Giant's  Causeway 

"  Here,  hapless  Hamilton,  lamented  name  1 
To  fire  volcanic  traced  the  curious  frame. 
And,  as  his  soul,  by  sportive  fancy's  aid, 
Up  to  the  fount  of  time's  long  current  strayed, 
Far  round  these  rocks  he  saw  fierce  craters  boil. 
And  torrent  lavas  flood  the  riven  soil: 
Saw  vanquished  Ocean  from  his  bounds  retire. 
And  hailed  the  wonders  of  creative  Fire." 


Giant's  Causeway,"  written  in  1811,  when 
the  nature  of  the  basaltic  rocks  was  regarded  as 
doubtful,  and  many  held  that  their  origin  was  to 
be  traced  to  the  action  of  water  rather  than  fire. 
Hamilton  is  rightly  brought  forward  as  a  champion 
of  the  volcanic  theory.  In  his  "  Letters  concern- 
ing the  Northern  Coast  of  Antrim,"  published  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  he 
adduces  strong  reasons  to  show  that  the  Giant's 
Causeway  is  no  isolated  freak  of  Nature,  but  part 
of  a  vast  lava  field  which  covered  Antrim  and 
extended  far  beyond  the  Scottish  islands.  Nor 
does  he  confine  his  attention  to  geology,  but  fulfils 


Drummond. 


taken  from  a  poem,  "  The 


*  Reprinted  from  the  Sun,  May,  1891. 
105 


106 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


the  promise  on  the  title  page,  giving  an  account  of 
the  antiquities,  manners,  and  customs  of  the 
country.  To  those  who  care  to  read  of  this  part  of 
the  world  before  the  days  of  railroads  and  electric 
tramways,  when  Portrush  was  a  small  fishing 
village,  and  the  lough  which  divides  Antrim  from 
Down  bore  the  name  of  the  ancient  city  of  Carrick- 
fergus,  this  old  volume  will  possess  many  attrac- 
tions. Three  copies  lie  before  me;  two  belong  to 
editions  published  in  the  author^s  lifetime;  the 
third  was  printed  in  Belfast  in  1822,  and  contains 
a  short  memoir  and  a  portrait  of  Dr.  Hamilton. 
The  latter  is  taken  from  one  of  those  black  sil- 
houettes by  which,  before  the  art  of  photography 
was  known,  our  grandfathers  strove  to  preserve  an 
image  of  those  they  loved.  In  this  imperfect  like- 
ness we  can  see  below  the  wig  a  massive  forehead, 
and  features  which  betoken  no  small  determination 
of  character.  We  can  well  believe  that  we  are 
gazing  on  the  face  of  a  scholar,  a  man  of  science,  a 
divine,  of  one  who  believed  that  death,  even  in 
the  tragic  form  in  which  it  came  to  him,  was  but 
the  laying  aside  of  a  perishable  machine,  the  casting 
away  of  an  instrument  no  longer  able  to  perform 
its  functions. 

William  Hamilton  was  born  in  December,  1757, 
in  Londonderry,  where  the  family  had  resided  for 
nearly  a  centur}^  his  grandfather  having  been 
one  of  the  defenders  of  the  city  during  the  famous 
siege.  Little  is  known  of  his  boyhood.  Before  he 
was  fifteen  he  entered  the  University  of  Dublin, 


THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HAMILTON,  D.D.  107 


and  after  a  distinguished  career  obtained  a  fellow- 
ship in  1779.  It  was  while  continuing  his  theo- 
logical and  literary  studies  that  his  attention  was 
drawn  to  the  new  sciences  of  chemistry  and  min- 
eralogy. We  can  imagine  the  ardent  student 
attracting  around  him  a  band  of  kindred  spirits, 
who,  meeting  on  one  evening  of  the  week  under  the 
name  of  Palaeosophers,  studied  the  Bible  and  ancient 
writings  bearing  on  its  interpretation,  and  the  next, 
calling  themselves  Neosophers,  discussed  the  phe- 
nomena of  Nature,  and  the  discoveries  of  Cavendish, 
or  the  views  of  Buffon  and  Descartes.  Nor  did 
his  marriage  in  1780  to  Sarah  Walker  interrupt 
these  pursuits. 

Hamilton  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy,  and  dedicated  his  "  Letters  con- 
cerning the  Coast  of  Antrim  "  to  the  Earl  of  Charle- 
mont,  the  first  president  of  that  body.  The  book 
opens  with  an  account  of  his  visit  to  the  Island  of 
Raghery  or  Rathlin,  where  he  was  charmed  with 
the  primitive  manners  of  the  people  and  the  friendly 
relations  existing  between  them  and  their  landlord. 
He  examined  the  white  cliffs,  the  dark  basaltic 
columns,  and  the  ruins  of  the  old  castle,  where 
Robert  Bruce  is  said  to  have  made  a  gallant  defence 
against  his  enemies.  Here  he  found  cinders  em- 
bedded in  the  mortar,  showing  that  the  lime  used 
in  building  the  walls  had  been  burnt  with  coal. 
This  is  adduced  as  a  proof  that  the  coal-beds  near 
Fair  Head  had  been  known  at  an  early  period,  pos- 
sibly at  a  time  anterior  to  the  Danish  incursions  of 


108 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries — a  view  confirmed 
by  the  discovery  of  an  ancient  gallery  extending 
many  hundred  yards  underground,  and  in  which  the 
remains  of  the  tools  and  baskets  of  the  prehistoric 
miners  were  found. 

In  a  later  letter  a  history  is  given  of  the  Giant's 
Causeway,  and  of  the  various  opinions  which  have 
been  held  regarding  its  origin.  Beginning  with  the 
old  tradition*  that  the  stones  had  been  cut  and 
placed  in  position  by  the  giant,  Fin  McCool  or 
Fingal,  when  constructing  a  mighty  mole  to  unite 
Ireland  to  Scotland,  Hamilton  alludes  to  the  crude 
notions  exhibited  in  some  papers  published  in  the 
early  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society.  He 
criticizes  severely  "  A  True  Prospect  of  the  Giant's 
Causeway,"  printed  in  1696  for  the  Dublin  Society, 
showing  how  the  imagination  of  the  artist  had 
planted  luxuriant  forest-trees  on  the  wild  bay  of 
Port  Noffer,  and  transformed  basaltic  rocks  into 
comfortable  dwelHng-houses .  The  two  beautiful 
paintings  made  by  Mrs.  Susanna  Drury  in  1740 
are  referred  to  in  very  different  language,  and  any- 
one who  has  seen  engravings  of  these  will  endorse 
his  opinion,  and  feel  that  this  lady  has  depicted, 
with  almost  photographic  accuracy,  the  Causeway 
and  the  successive  galleries  of  basaltic  columns, 
which  lend  a  weird  and  peculiar  grandeur  to  the 
headlands  of  Bengore. 

A  large  portion  of  Hamilton's  work  is  occupied 
with  a  minute  investigation  of  these  headlands,  and 

*  See  Letter  I.,  part  ii.,  edition  1822. 


THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HAMILTON,  D.D.  109 


of  the  lofty  promontory  of  Fair  Head.  A  descrip- 
tion is  given  of  the  jointed  columns  of  the  Cause- 
way, whose  surface  presents  a  regular  and  com- 
pact pavement  of  polygon  stones ;  we  are  told  that 
this  basaltic  rock  contains  metallic  iron,  and  that 
he  has  himself  observed  how,  in  the  semicircular 
Bay  of  Bengore,  the  compass  deviates  greatly  from 
its  meridian,  and  each  pillar  or  fragment  of  a  pillar 
acts  as  a  natural  magnet.  He  also  points  out  that 
columnar  rocks  are  found  in  many  parts  of  Antrim , 
and  traces  the  basaltic  plateau  from  the  shores  of 
Lough  Foyle  to  the  valley  of  the  Lagan ;  nay  more, 
he  bids  us  extend  our  gaze,  and  remember  "  that 
whatever  be  the  reasonings  that  fairly  apply  to 
the  formation  of  the  basaltes  in  our  island,  the  same 
must  be  extended  with  little  interruption  over  the 
mainland  and  western  isles  of  Scotland,  even  to 
the  frozen  island  of  Iceland,  where  basaltic  pillars 
are  to  be  found  in  abundance,  and  where  the  flames 
of  Hecla  still  continue  to  blaze."* 

Hamilton  argues,  in  opposition  to  the  views  of 
many  of  his  contemporaries,  that  the  vicinity  of 
the  Giant's  Causeway  to  the  sea  has  nothing  what- 

*  Letter  VI.,  part  ii.,  pp.  183, 184.  Compare  with  this  passage 
the  following  enunciation  of  the  results  of  modem  geological 
investigation.  "  A  marked  feature  of  this  period  in  Europe 
was  the  abundance  and  activity  of  its  volcanoes.  .  .  .  From 
the  south  of  Antrim,  through  the  west  coast  of  Scotland, 
the  Faroe  Islands  and  Iceland,  even  far  into  Arctic  Greenland, 
a  vast  series  of  fissure  eruptions  poured  forth  successive  floods 
of  basalt,  fragments  of  which  now  form  the  extensive  volcanic 
plateaux  of  these  regions  (Sir  A.  Geikie,  "  Geological  Sketches 
at  Home  and  Abroad,"  pp.  347,  348). 


110 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


ever  to  do  with  the  pecuHar  structure  of  its  jointed 
columns,  which  he  ascribes  to  their  having  been 
formed  by  the  crystaUization  of  a  molten  mass. 
The  following  are  his  words : 

"  Since,  therefore,  the  basaltes  and  its  attendant 
fossils*  bear  strong  marks  of  the  effects  of  fire,  it 
does  not  seem  unHkely  that  its  pillars  may  have 
been  formed  by  a  process,  exactly  analogous  to 
what  is  commonly  denominated  crystallization  by 
fusion.  .  .  .  For  though  during  the  moments  of 
an  eruption  nothing  but  a  wasteful  scene  of  tumult 
and  disorder  be  presented  to  our  view,  yet,  when 
the  fury  of  those  flames  and  vapours,  which  have 
been  strugghng  for  a  passage,  has  abated,  every- 
thing then  returns  to  its  original  state  of  rest ;  and 
those  various  melted  substances,  which,  but  just 
before,  were  in  the  wildest  state  of  chaos,  will  now 
subside  and  cool  with  a  degree  of  regularity  utterly 
unattainable  in  our  laboratories. "f 

It  is  true  that  modern  geologists  would  not  apply 
the  term  "  crystaUization  "  to  the  process  by  which 
the  basaltic  columns  have  been  formed,  but  all 
would  agree  that  they  have  assumed  their  pecuHar 
shape  during  the  slow  cooling  of  the  molten  lava 
of  which  they  consist;  thus  Professor  James  Thom- 
son J  states  that  the   division  into  prisms  has 

*  Hamilton  uses  this  word  in  its  old  meaning  of  rock  or 
stone.  He  expressly  states  that  basalt  does  not  contain  the 
slightest  trace  of  animal  or  vegetable  remains. 

t  Letter  VII.,  part  ii.,  pp.  187,  188,  189. 

I  See  "Collected  Papers,"  p.  430,  edited  by  Sir  Joseph 
Larmor,  Sec.  R.S.,  M.P.,  and  James  Thomson,  M.A. 


THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HAMILTON,  D.D.  Ill 

arisen  "  by  splitting,  through  shrinkage,  of  a  very 
homogeneous  mass  in  cooUng." 

It  would  be  tedious  to  repeat  the  reasoning  by 
which  Hamilton,  following  in  the  steps  of  the 
French  geologists,  Desmarest  and  Faujas  de  St. 
Fond,  establishes  the  volcanic  origin  of  the  basalt. 
It  is  true,  he  assumes  the  position  of  an  impartial 
narrator,  and  brings  forward  at  considerable  length 
the  objections  which  had  been  urged  against  this 
theory,  but  only  to  show  that  each  one  of  them 
admits  of  a  full  and  complete  answer.  Thus  he 
states  that  the  absence  of  volcanic  cones  does  not 
embarrass  the  advocates  of  the  system : "  According 
to  them,  the  basaltes  has  been  formed  under  the 
earth  itself  and  within  the  bowels  of  those  very 
mountains  where  it  could  never  have  been  exposed 
to  view  until,  by  length  of  time  or  some  violent 
shock  of  nature,  the  incumbent  mass  must  have 
undergone  a  very  considerable  alteration,  such  as 
should  go  near  to  destroy  every  exterior  volcanic 
feature.  In  support  of  this,  it  may  be  observed  that 
the  promontories  of  Antrim  do  yet  bear  very  evident 
marks  of  some  violent  convulsion,  which  has  left 
them  standing  in  their  present  abrupt  situation, 
and  that  the  Island  of  Raghery  and  some  of  the 
western  isles  of  Scotland  do  really  appear  like  the 
surviving  fragments  of  a  country,  great  part  of 
which  might  have  been  buried  in  the  ocean."* 

We  thus  see  that  Hamilton  clearly  perceived  that 
great  changes,  sufficient  to  sweep  away  lofty  moun- 
*  Letter  VII, ,  part  ii.,  p.  194, 


112 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


tains,  had  taken  place  since  those  old  lava  streams 
had  flowed  over  the  land.  It  is  true  that  science 
has  advanced  since  his  day  with  gigantic  strides. 
Some  things  which  he  regarded  as  doubtful  have 
become  certain,  and  others  which  he  regarded  as 
certain  have  become  doubtful,  yet  I  trust  that  the 
preceding  extracts  will  show  that  his  account  of 
the  basaltic  rocks  of  Antrim  may  still  be  read  with 
interest  and  profit. 

As  an  antiquarian,  Hamilton  touches  on  the  evi- 
dences of  early  culture  in  Ireland.  He  mentions 
the  large  number  of  exquisitely  wrought  gold  orna- 
ments found  in  the  bogs,  and  translates  for  us  a 
poem  of  St.  Donatus,  which,  although  doubtless  a 
fancy  sketch,  shows  the  reputation  enjoyed  by  the 
island  in  the  ninth  century. 

"  Far  westward  lies  an  isle  of  ancient  fame 
By  nature  bless'd,  and  Scotia  is  her  name, 
An  island  rich — exhaustless  is  her  store 
Of  veiny  silver  and  of  golden  ore ; 
Her  fruitful  soil  for  ever  teems  with  wealth, 
With  gems  her  waters,  and  her  air  with  health. 
Her  verdant  fields  with  milk  and  honey  flow,  , 
Her  woolly  fleeces  vie  with  virgin  snow ; 
Her  waving  furrows  float  with  bearded  corn, 
And  arms  and  arts  her  envy'd  sons  adorn. 
No  savage  bear  with  lawless  fury  roves. 
No  rav'ning  lion  thro'  her  sacred  groves ; 
No  poison  there  infects,  no  scaly  snake 
Creeps  through  the  grass,  nor  frog  annoys  the  lake. 
An  island  worthy  of  its  pious  race. 
In  war  triumphant,  and  unmatch'd  in  peace."* 

In  referring  to  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the 
ancient  Irish  Church,  Hamilton  enters  on  the  field 
*  Letter  IV.,  part  i.,  p.  52. 


THE  REV  WILLIAM  HAMILTON,  D.D.  113 


of  controversy.  It  shows  how  widely  his  book  was 
known  when  we  find  the  Giornale  Ecclesiastico  of 
Rome  taking  exception  to  some  of  his  views.  This 
criticism  led  to  the  insertion  in  the  second  edition 
of  the  work,  of  a  letter*  deaUng  more  fully  with 
ecclesiastical  matters.  The  reasoning,  even  when 
supported  by  the  high  authority  of  Archbishop 
Ussher,  may  possibly  fail  to  convince  us  of  the 
identity  of  the  Church  of  St.  Patrick  and  St. 
Columba  with  the  Church  of  the  Reformation ;  but 
we  shall  find  abundant  proof  of  the  vigour  and 
independence  which  characterized  not  only  the 
early  monks,  but  the  Irish  schoolmen  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

Before  this  letter  was  published,  Hamilton  had 
accepted  the  living  of  Clondevaddock  in  Donegal, 
and  had  taken  up  his  abode  amid  the  wild  but 
beautiful  scenery  surrounding  Mulroy  Bay.  Here 
he  expected  to  spend  a  tranquil  life,  watching  over 
the  education  of  his  large  family,  and  combining 
with  his  clerical  duties  the  pursuit  of  science  and 
literature.  In  a  favourable  situation  for  observing 
variations  of  temperature  and  the  action  of  rain, 
wind,  and  tide,  he  pursued  the  investigation  of  a 
subject  which  had  already  engaged  his  attention 
before  leaving  Dublin.  In  a  memoirf  published 
after  his  death  he  suggests  that  the  cutting  down 
of  the  forests  may  have  affected  a  sensible  change 
in  the  climate  of  Ireland,  and  gives  several  instances 

*  Letter  V,  part  i. 

t  See  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Irish  Academy,  vol.  vi., 
p.  27. 

8 


11^  ULSTER  FOLKLORE 

of  the  encroachment  of  the  sea  sand  on  fertile  and 
inhabited  land.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  is  that 
of  the  town  of  Bannow  in  Wexford.  It  was  a 
flourishing  borough  in  the  early  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  while  in  his  day  the  site  was  marked 
only  by  a  few  ruins,  appearing  above  heaps  of 
barren  sand,  and  where  at  the  time  of  an  election 
a  fallen  chimney  was  used  as  the  council  table  of 
that  ancient  and  loyal  corporation. 

When  we  read  the  closing  pages  of  this  paper  it 
is  difficult  to  believe  that  troubled  times  were  so 
near  at  hand ;  and  even  when  he  wrote  his  "  Letters 
on  the  French  Revolution,"  Hamilton  could  not 
have  foreseen  that  he  was  soon  to  fall  before  the 
same  spirit  of  wild  vengeance,  which  claimed  so 
many  noble  victims  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine  and 
the  Loire. 

He  acted  as  magistrate  as  well  as  clergyman,  and 
during  nearly  seven  years  he  was  treated  with 
respect  and  confidence  by  the  people  among  whom 
he  lived.  No  doubt  the  majority  of  them  did  not 
regard  him  as  their  pastor,  but  they  appreciated  his 
efforts  for  their  temporal  welfare;  we  are  told 
that  the  country  was  advancing  in  industry  and 
prosperity,  and  remained  tranquil  when  other  parts 
of  Ulster  were  greatly  disturbed.  At  last,  however, 
the  revolutionary  wave  reached  this  remote  district, 
and  a  trivial  incident  inflamed  the  minds  of  the 
inhabitants  against  Dr.  Hamilton. 

On  Christmas  night,  1796,  while  the  memorable 
storm  which  in  the  south  drove  the  French  fleet 


THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HAMILTON,  D.D.  115 


from  Bantry  Bay  was  at  its  height,  a  brig,  laden 
with  wine  from  Oporto,  was  shipwrecked  on  the 
coast  of  Fanet,  not  far  from  Dr.  Hamilton's  dwell- 
ing. In  those  days  the  peasantry  regarded  what- 
ever was  brought  to  them  by  the  sea  as  lawful 
booty,  and  were  little  disposed  to  brook  the  inter- 
ference of  magistrate  or  clergyman.  We  are  told 
"  that  Dr.  Hamilton's  active  exertions  on  this 
melancholy  occasion  gave  rise  to  feelings  of  ani- 
mosity on  the  part  of  some  of  his  parishioners." 
This  animosity  was  fomented  by  popular  agitators. 
A  stormy  period  ensued.  One  evening  a  band  of 
insurgents  surrounded  the  parsonage  demanding 
the  release  of  some  prisoners,  and  for  more  than 
twenty-four  hours  the  house  was  closely  besieged. 
Two  of  the  servants  made  their  way  with  difficulty 
to  the  beach,  hoping  to  escape  by  sea  and  bring 
succour  from  Derry,  but  they  found  holes  had  been 
bored  in  the  boats,  which  rendered  them  un- 
serviceable. Dr.  Hamilton  acted  with  much 
courage  and  coolness.  He  refused  to  accede  to  the 
demands  of  his  assailants,  saying  he  was  not  to  be 
intimidated  by  men  acting  in  open  violation  of  the 
laws;  at  the  same  time,  by  repressing  the  ardour 
of  the  guard  of  soldiers,  he  showed  his  anxiety  to 
prevent  bloodshed.  In  company  with  a  naval 
officer,  he  undertook  the  perilous  task  of  passing  in 
disguise  through  the  rebel  cordon,  and  returned 
with  a  body  of  militia.  On  seeing  this  reinforce- 
ment, the  peasantry  lost  courage,  and,  throwing 
away  their  arms,  dispersed  quickly  to  their  homes, 


116 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


so  that  the  victory  was  achieved  without  loss  of 
life. 

The  country  now  became  apparently  more  tran- 
quil, and  in  early  spring  Dr.  Hamilton  paid  a  visit 
to  the  Bishop  of  the  diocese  at  Raphoe.  He  was 
returning  to  his  parish,  when  the  roughness  of  the 
weather  delayed  his  crossing  Lough  Swilly,  and  he 
turned  aside  to  see  a  brother  clergyman  near 
Fahan.  He  was  easily  prevailed  upon  to  pass  the 
night  in  the  hospitable  rectory  of  Sharon,  and  no 
doubt  the  visit  of  an  old  college  friend  was  hailed 
with  delight  by  the  crippled  Dr.  Waller,  whose 
infirmities  obliged  him  to  lead  a  secluded  life. 
Probably  the  conversation  turned  on  the  state  of 
the  country;  Dr.  Waller,  his  wife,  and  her  niece 
would  inquire  about  the  perils  from  which  their 
guest  had  recently  escaped.  Perhaps  they  would 
congratulate  themselves  on  the  security  of  their 
neighbourhood  compared  with  the  wilder  parts  of 
Donegal.  Suddenly  the  tramp  of  a  band  of  men 
was  heard.  It  is  said  that  Dr.  Hamilton's  quick 
ear  first  caught  the  sound,  and  knew  it  to  be  his 
death-knell;  but  he  was  not  the  only  victim — his 
hostess  fell  before  him.  Let  us  hear  the  story  of 
that  terrible  tragedy  as  it  was  reported  to  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons.  Speaking  on  March  6,  1797, 
four  days  after  the  event.  Dr.  Brown  said: 

As  that  gentleman  (Dr.  Hamilton)  was  sitting 
with  the  family  in  Mr.  Waller's  house,  several  shots 
were  fired  in  upon  them,  the  house  was  broken  open, 
and  Mrs.  Waller,  in  endeavouring  to  protect  her 


THE  REV.  WILLIAM  HAMILTON,  D.D.  117 

helpless  husband  by  covering  him  with  her  body, 
was  murdered.  Mr.  Hamilton,  from  the  natural 
love  of  life,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  lower  apart- 
ments. Thence  they  forced  him,  and  as  he  en- 
deavoured to  hold  the  door  they  held  fire  under 
his  hand  until  they  made  him  quit  his  hold.  They 
then  dragged  him  a  few  yards  from  the  house,  and 
murdered  him  in  the  most  inhuman  and  barbarous 
manner."* 

From  a  letter  written  by  Dr.  Hall  to  the  Gentle- 
man's Magazine  (March,  1797),  we  learn  that  the 
assassins  retired  unmolested  and  undiscovered. 
Nor  were  any  of  them  ever  brought  to  justice, 
although  popular  tradition,  among  both  Catholics 
and  Protestants,  says  that  misfortune  dogged  their 
footsteps,  and  each  one  of  them  came  to  an  untimely 
end.  Dr.  Hamilton's  body  remained  exposed  dur- 
ing the  night,  and  was  only  removed  the  follow- 
ing morning,  when  it  was  taken  to  Londonderry 
and  interred  in  the  Cathedral  graveyard.  Here  his 
name  is  recorded  on  the  family  tombstone;  and  in 
1 890  his  descendants  erected  a  tablet  to  his  memory 
in  the  chancel  of  the  Cathedral. 

Hamilton  obtained  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity  in  1794,  and  shortly  before  his  death  he 
was  elected  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  Edinburgh.  We  have  seen  how  he  was 
cut  off  in  the  full  vigour  of  mind  and  body — his  last 
memoir  unprinted — and  surely  we  may  echo  the 
lament  of  his  contemporaries,  and  feel  that  he  was 

*  Sec  report  in  the  Belfast  Newsletter,  March  6-10,  1797. 


118 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


one  who  had  conferred  honour  on  his  native  land. 
Yet,  while  they  mourned  his  loss  as  a  public 
calamity,  his  friends  would  recall  his  words,  and 
remember  that  to  him  death  was  but  the  entrance 
to  a  new  life — the  casting  away  of  a  covering  which 
formed  no  part  of  his  true  self. 


INDEX 


Abbott.  W.  J.  Lewis,  F.G.S., 
99,  100 

Abernethy  Round  Tower,  57 
Aino,  42 

Antrim,  old  fort  at,  36 
Ardtole  souterrain,  vi 
Armoy,  26,  90 
Arranmore,  82 

Backaderry  souterrain,  7 

Ballycairn  Fort,  37,  38,  41 

Ballycastle,  39,  50,  89 

Ballyginney  Fort  and  Souter- 
rain, 7,  8 

BallylifEan,  52,  55 

Ballymagreehan  Fort  and  Sou- 
terrain,  6 

Balor,  73-76,  79 

Banshee,  31.  35.  42,  43.  $6,  78 

Beddoe,  Dr.,  100,  10 1 

Bell,  Robert,  97 

Boyle,  Owen,  saves  bride  from 

fairies,  68-71 
Bridget,  Eve  of  St..  17.  18 
Brownie,  51,  89 
Burglauenen.  destruction  of,  53 
Bury,  Professor,  61 

Cailleagh,  19 
Campbell,  J.  F.,  79,  8u 
Castlewellan,  6,  7 
Chope,  R.  Pearse,  B.A.,  19,  20 
"  Churn,"  19,  20 
Cinderella,  47 
Clark,  Miss  Jane,  22 
Coal-mines,  ancient,  near  Bally- 
castle, 39,  107-8 
Columbkill.  St.,  63.  83 
Cowan,  Rev.  Dr.,  86,  87 
Cruithnians,  58 


I  Culdaff,  53 
!  Culnady,  21,  22 
Cushendall,  89,  98 

Danes,  8-1 1,  28-31,  34.  37-42, 
45.  51.  57.  77.  78.  88.  89.  102, 
104. 

Derrick's  Image  of  Ireland,  44, 
45 

Donaghmore,  Co.  Down,  sou- 
terrain  at,  86,  87 

Donatus,  St.,  poem  describing 
Scotia  or  Ireland,  1 12 

Downpatrick,  rath  at,  22,  36 

Drumcrow,  27 

Drury,  Mrs.  Susanna,  108 

Dunglady  Fort,  21,  22 

Dunloe,  Gap  of,  10 

Emania,  41 

Fair  Head.  49,  107,  108 
Fairies,  capture  of  women  and 
children  by,  26,  69-73 
compared     with  African 

pygmies.  33.  34 
dress  of,  27,  88 
a  dwarf  race,  13,  45,  104 
dwelling  under  sea,  52,  53 
inhabit   forts   and  soutcr- 

rains,  8,  31,  36,  86 
intermarriage  with  the  hu- 
man race,  65  el  scq. 
vanish,  25.  34 
Fanshawc,  Lady,  42,  43 
Fargowan,  79 
Fiacc's  hymn,  61 
Finglas,  79 

Finn  McCoul,  48-50,  76,  79,  90- 
95.  108 

19 


120 


ULSTER  FOLKLORE 


Finn,  Lough,  79 
Finns,  64,  78 
Finntown,  65 
Finvoy,  86 

Frazer,  J.  G..  D.C.L.,  20,  21 
Friel,  John,  saves  young  girl 
from  the  fairies,  71 

Gempeler,  D.,  53 
Giants,  79,  89,  90,  96,  99 
Giant's  Causeway,  50,  90,  105, 

108-111 
Glasdrumman  Fort,  97,  98 
Glenties,  65,  66,  79 
Goll,  91 

Gomme,  Sir  G.  L.,  54,  84,  85 
Gottwerg  and  Gottwergini,  52, 
54 

Gray,  John,  B.Sc,  102,  104 
Greenmount,  Mote  at,  36,  37,  40 
Grey  Man  of  the  Path,  49 
Grogach,  47,  50,  51,  57,  89,  99, 
104 

Gweedore,  68,  75 
Ham,  32,  60,  73 

Hamilton,     Rev.    W.,  D.D., 

F.T.C.D.,  39,  105-118 
Hanauer,  Rev.  J.  E.,  67 
Harbison,  Mann,  8,  11,  12 
Harris,  59,  60 
Harvest  knots,  18,  19 
Heather  ale,  28,  29,  41 
Herd  (David),  13 
Herman's  Fort  and  Souterrain, 

6,  7 

Hobson,  Mrs.,  viii,  30 

Hunt,  B,  72 

Hyde,  Dr.  Douglas,  71 

Infant  carried  oft  by  fairies,  but 
saved  by  father,  72,  73 

Jegerlehner,  Dr.  J.,  52,  54 
Johnston,  Sir  Harry,  33,  34,  80 

Keating,  60,  88,  103 
Killelagh  Church,  14,  1 5 
Kilrea,  23 

Kincasslagh,  68,  70,  78 
Knockdhu,  souterrain  at,  30 
Kollmann,  Professor  Julius,  v, 
59,  61,  62 


Lenagh  Townland,  fort  blown 
up,  97 

Leprechaun,  Lupracan,  Luchor- 

pan,  id,  32 
Leslie,  Rev.  J.  B.,  9,  37 
London  Bridge  legend,  84,  85 
Luchter,  18 

Lurach,  St.,  church  of,  22 
Lytle,  S.  D.,  vi,  16 

Maghera,  Co.  Down,  4,  7 
Maghera,Co.  Londonderry,  14-23 
Manannan,  49,  95,  96 
McKean,  E.  J.,  B.A.,  19,  41 
McKenna,  Daniel,  14,  17,  18 
MacKenzie,  W.  C,  F.S.A.Scot., 
58 

MacRitchie,  David,  F.S.A.Scot., 
V,  12,  28,  29,  42,  57,  58,  96 

Marshall,  Dr.  Eric,  81 

Mortar,  cemented  with  the 
blood  of  bullocks,  1 5 

Mourne  Mountains,  2,  28 

Munro,  Dr.,  12 

Neosophers,  107 
New  Guinea,  pygmies  in,  80,  81 
NiederdorfE,  destruction  of,  53, 
54 

Nuesch,  Dr.,  61 

O'Donovan,  Dr.,  22,  75,  76,  103 
O'Grady,  Standish  H.,  32,  44,  61 
O'Neill,  Phelim,  castle  of,  15 
Oughter,  Lough,  9 

Palaeolithic  man,  59,  99,  100 
Palaeosophers,  107 
Patrick,  St.,  61,  63,  83 
Pechts,  15,  16,  27,  31,  50,  57, 

78,  99,  102,  104 
Pennant,  29 

Piskey  Dwarfs  of  Cornwall,  10 1 
Portstewart,  19,  38,  67 

Rathlin  Island,  90,  107 

Red  hair  ascribed  to  fairies  and 

Danes,  2,  9,  34,  37,  100 
possibly  the  original  hair 

colour  in  Europe,  100 
Rhys,  Sir  John,  67,  10 1 
Rochefort,  Jorevin  de,  40,  41 
Roe,  Valley  of  the,  19,  96,  97 


INDEX 


121 


Rosapenna,  65,  67,  71 
Roughan  Castle,  1 5 
Rowan  tree,  27 
Rush  crosses,  17,  18 

SchafEhausen,  skeletons  of 
dwarfs  discovered  near,  v,  61, 
62,  104 

Seals,  belief  that  human  beings 
could  change  into,  81,  82 

Sealskin  of  Finn  woman,  96 

Sea  sand,  encroachment  on 
land,  114 

Smith,  Dr.  Robertson,  34,  35 

Smith,  Rev,  Frederick,  99 

Sidh,  44,  61 

Sidis,  61 

Silva  Gadelica,  32,  44,  61 
Souterrains,  6-8,  16,  30,  31,  36- 
41.  86,  87 


j  Spy,  men  of,  12,  13 

I  Staffa,  50 

1  Stone  circles  at  Aghlish,  97 

[  Stranocum,  souterrain  at,  8 

I  Sweeney,  John,  82 

'  Sword  of  light,  93,  94 

i  Thomson,  Professor  James,  no 

Tobermore,  17 

Todas,  54 
I  Tormore,  73 

Tory  Island,  73-76.  88,  96 
j  Tuatha  de  Danann,  11,  12,  18, 
,      29,  77,  102,  103 
'  Tullamore  Park,  2,  3 

^  Wee,  wee  man,  13 
Whitley,  Rev.  Gath.  10 1 
Windele,  John,  40 


THE  END 


ELLIOT  STOCK,  7,  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON,  E.C. 


GETTY  RESEARCH  '||||^^^^ 


